KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTING —- Lionel Messi can now be confirmed formally as having won the ESM European Golden Shoe for the continent’s leading league marksman for a record-extending sixth time.

Messi finished Barcelona’s Spanish league title-winning campaign with 36 goals, three clear of Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe (33) and a massive 10 clear of Sampdoria’s Fabio Quagliarella (26).

Messi and Mbappe: first and second this time around

Highest-finishing strikers from the English Premier League and joint equal sixth on 22 goals apiece were Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang along with Liverpool’s Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.

The Golden Shoe is based on a ranking computed according to UEFA’s July rankings. Thus marksmen from among the top five nations benefit from a multiple of 2.0, the next batch 1.5 and the remainder 1.0.

Last year France replaced Portugal in the top five meaning the value of goals in Ligue 1 rose from 1.5 to 2.0 while the valuation for for players from Benfica, Sporting and Porto etc was downgraded to 1.5.

As in previous years the Golden Shoe does not consider goals in play-off competitions.

Golden Shoe standings

(Ranking multiplication based on UEFA coefficient status)

1. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 36 x 2 = 72
2. Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) 33 x 2 = 66
3. Fabio Quagliarella (UC Sampdoria) 26 x 2 = 52
4. Duván Zapata (Atalanta Bergamo) 23 x 2 = 46
5. Mbaye Diagne (Kasimpasa SK/Galatasaray SK) 30 x 1,5 = 45
6. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) 22 x 2 = 44
Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern München) 22 x 2 = 44
Sadio Mané (Liverpool FC) 22 x 2 = 44
Nicolas Pépé (Lille OSC) 22 x 2 = 44
Krzysztof Piatek (Genoa CFC/AC Milan) 22 x 2 = 44
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC) 22 x 2 = 44
12. Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero (Manchester City) 21 x 2 = 42
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 21 x 2 = 42
Luuk de Jong (PSV Eindhoven) 28 x 1,5 = 42
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) 21 x 2 = 42
Luis Suárez (FC Barcelona) 21 x 2 = 42
Dusan Tadic (AFC Ajax) 28 x 1,5 = 42
18. Iago Aspas (RC Celta de Vigo) 20 x 2 = 40
19. Cristhian Stuani (Girona FC) 19 x 2 = 38
20. Paco Alcácer (Borussia Dortmund) 18 x 2 = 36
Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain) 18 x 2 = 36
Guillaume Hoarau (BSC Young Boys) 24 x 2 = 36
Nikolai Komlichenko (FK Mladá Boleslav) 24 x 1,5 = 36
Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) 18 x 2 = 36
Wissam Ben Yedder (Sevilla FC) 18 x 2 = 36
26. Haris Seferovic (SL Benfica) 23 x 1,5 = 34,5
Robert Skov (FC København) 23 x 1,5 = 34,5
28. Kai Havertz (Bayer 04 Leverkusen) 17 x 2 = 34
Borja Iglesias Quintás (RCD Espanyol) 17 x 2 = 34
Luka Jovic (SG Eintracht Frankfurt) 17 x 2 = 34
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) 17 x 2 = 34
Andrej Kramarić (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim) 17 x 2 = 34
Arkadiusz Milik (SSC Napoli) 17 x 2 = 34
Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund) 17 x 2 = 34
Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) 17 x 2 = 34
Wout Weghorst (VfL Wolfsburg) 17 x 2 = 34
37. Ishak Belfodil (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim) 16 x 2 =32
Eden Hazard (Chelsea FC) 16 x 2 = 32
Dries Mertens (SSC Napoli) 16 x 2 = 32
Leonardo Pavoletti (Cagliari Calcio) 16 x 2 = 32
Andrea Petagna (SPAL 2013) 16 x 2 = 32
Florian Thauvin (Olympique Marseille) 16 x 2 = 32
Timo Werner (RasenBallsport Leipzig) 16 x 2 = 32
44. Ellenton ‘Liliu’ (Nõmme Kalju FC) 31 x 1 = 31
45. Zakaria Beglarishvili (FC Flora Tallinn) 30 x 1 = 30
Andrea Belotti (Torino FC) 15 x 2 = 30
Francesco Caputo (Empoli FC) 15 x 2 = 30
Moussa Dembélé (Olympique Lyonnais) 15 x 2 = 30
Radamel Falcao (AS Monaco) 15 x 2 = 30
Bruno Miguel Borges Fernandes (Sporting Clube de Portugal) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Antoine Griezmann (Atlético de Madrid) 15 x 2 = 30
Sébastien Haller (SG Eintracht Frankfurt) 15 x 2 = 30
Ciro Immobile (SS Lazio Roma) 15 x 2 = 30
‘Neymar’ da Silva (Paris Saint-Germain) 15 x 2 = 30
‘Paulinho’ de Oliveira (BK Häcken) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Yussuf Poulsen (RasenBallsport Leipzig) 15 x 2 = 30
Mbwane Ally Samatta (KRC Genk) 20 x 1,5 = 30
58. Patrick Hoban (FC Dundalk) 29 x 1 = 29
59. Mijo Caktas (HNK Hajduk Split) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
Adrián Dalmau Vaquer (Heracles Almelo) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
Efthymios Koulouris (Atromitos FC) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
Andreas Skov Olsen (FC Nordsjaelland) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
63. ‘Charles’ Dias de Oliveira (SD Eibar) 14 x 2 = 28
Andy Delort (Montpellier Hérault SC) 14 x 2 = 28
Jean-Philippe Mateta (FSV Mainz 05) 14 x 2 = 28
Jaime Mata Arnaiz (Getafe CF) 14 x 2 = 28
Jorge Molina Vidal (Getafe CF) 14 x 2 = 28
Raúl de Tomás (Rayo Vallecano) 14 x 2 = 28
Kevin Volland (Bayer 04 Leverkusen) 14 x 2 = 28
Callum Wilson (AFC Bournemouth) 14 x 2 = 28

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** The Golden Shoe is administered, computed and formulated by the European Sports Media group whose members comprise: A Bola (Portugal), ElfVoetbal (Netherlands), Fanatik (Turkey), Foot Magazine (Belgium), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany), Gazzetta dello Sport (Italy), GoalNews/Sentragoal (Greece), Guerin Sportivo (Italy), Kicker (Germany), Marca (Spain), Nemzeti Sport (Hungary), SoFoot (France), Sport Express (Russia), Telegraaf/Telesport (Netherlands), Tipsbladet (Denmark), World Soccer (England). Affiliated members: Kick Off (South Africa), Titan Sport (China), Netease (China), SportalKorea (South-Korea).
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