KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: Robert Lewandowski has taken command of the ESM European Golden Shoe rankings.

At the weekend the Bayern Munich centre-forward surpassed a record held by the great Gerd Muller after becoming the first player to score 21 goals in the first 16 rounds of a Bundesliga campaign.

Old Bayern hero Müller took 18 games to reach that figure in the 1969-70 and 1972-73 seasons.

Lewandowski – winner of FIFA’s best world player award – overtook by converting an assist from Thomas Müller to score Bayern’s first goal in a 2-1 win over against Freiburg.

The goal lifted FIFA’s Best Player of 2020 ahead of previous Golden Shoe leader Kasper Junker of Norway’s Bodo/Glimt on points though Junker had scored more goals (27).

Scandinavian leagues which traditionally play to a calendar-year schedule always provide the initial leaders before being overtaken in due course by the superstars of western Europe.

The Golden Shoe is based on a ranking computed according to UEFA’s end-of-season rankings. Thus marksmen from among the top five nations benefit from a multiple of 2.0, the next batch (places six to 22 ) a factor of 1.5 and the remainder 1.0.

Last season’s winner was Lazio’s Ciro Immobile.

Golden Shoe standings

(Ranking multiplication based on UEFA coefficient status)

1. Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern München) 21 x 2 = 42
2. Kasper Junker (FK Bodø/Glimt) 27 x 1,5 = 40,5
3. Amahl Pellegrino (Kristiansund BK) 25 x 1,5 = 37,5
4. Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) 15 x 2 = 30
5. Paul Ebere Onuachu (KRC Genk) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
Philip Zinckernagel (FK Bodø/Glimt) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
7. Christoffer Nyman (IFK Norrköping) 18 x 1,5 = 27
8. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC) 13 x 2 = 26
9. Veton Berisha (Viking FK Stavanger) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Boulaye Dia (Stade de Reims) 12 x 2 = 24
Giorgos Giakoumakis (VVV-Venlo) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Erling Braut Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) 12 x 2 = 24
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan) 12 x 2 = 24
Ciro Immobile (SS Lazio Roma) 12 x 2 = 24
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) 12 x 2 = 24
Romelu Lukaku (Internazionale Milano) 12 x 2 = 24
Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) 12 x 2 = 24
André Miguel Silva (Eintracht Frankfurt) 12 x 2 = 24
Heung-Min Son (Tottenham Hotspur) 12 x 2 = 24
20. Rauno Sappinen (FC Flora Tallinn) 23 x 1 = 23
21. Mushaga Bakenga (Odds BK) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
Thomas Henry (Oud-Heverlee Leuven) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
Astrit Seljmani (Varbergs BoIS) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
24. Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton FC) 11 x 2 = 22
Memphis Depay (Olympique Lyonnais) 11 x 2 = 22
Bruno Miguel Borges Fernandes (Manchester United) 11 x 2 = 22
Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 11 x 2 = 22
Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) 11 x 2 = 22
Wout Weghorst (VfL Wolfsburg) 11 x 2 = 22
30. Youssef El-Arabi (Olympiakos Piraeus) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Jens Petter Hauge (FK Bodø/Glimt) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Moses Ogbu (Mjällby AIF) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Isaac Kiese Thelin (Malmö FF) 14 x 1,5 = 21
34. Patrick Bamford (Leeds United) 10 x 2 = 20
‘Gerard’ Moreno Balagueró (Villarreal CF) 10 x 2 = 20
Luis Muriel Fruto (Atalanta Bergamo) 10 x 2 = 20
‘João Pedro’ Galvão (Cagliari Calcio) 10 x 2 = 20
Kevin Volland (AS Monaco) 10 x 2 = 20
39. Anders Christiansen (Malmö FF) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Leke James (Molde FK) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
41. Maksim Skavysh (FC BATE Borisov) 19 x 1 = 19
42. Ludovic Ajorque (Racing Strasbourg Alsace) 9 x 2 = 18
Iago Aspas Juncal (RC Celta de Vigo) 9 x 2 = 18
Andrea Belotti (Torino FC) 9 x 2 = 18
Nahir Besara (Örebro SK) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Aaron Boupendza (Hatayspor Kulübü) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Andy Delort (Montpellier Hérault SC) 9 x 2 = 18
Luiz Paulo Hilario ‘Dodô‘ (FC Liepaja) 18 x 1 = 18
Lorenzo Insigne (SSC Napoli Calcio) 9 x 2 = 18
Dino Islamovic (Rosenborg BK) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Aron Jóhannsson (Hammarby IF) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Bioty Moise Kean (Paris Saint-Germain) 9 x 2 = 18
Lautaro Martínez (Internazionale Milano) 9 x 2 = 18
M’Bala Nzola (Spezia Calcio) 9 x 2 = 18
Ohi Omoijuanfo (Molde FK) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Pedro António Pereira Gonçalves ‘Pote’ (Sporting CP) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Ulrik Saltnes (FK Bodø/Glimt) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Lars Stindl (Borussia Mönchengladbach) 9 x 2 = 18
Luis Alberto Suárez (Atlético Madrid) 9 x 2 = 18
Karl Toko Ekambi (Olympique Lyonnais) 9 x 2 = 18
Stefano Holmquist Vecchia (IK Sirius) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Silas Wamangituka (VfB Stuttgart) 9 x 2 = 18
Wissam Ben Yedder (AS Monaco) 9 x 2 = 18
Burak Yilmaz (Lille OSC) 9 x 2 = 18
Kristoffer Zachariassen (Rosenborg BK) 12 x 1,5 = 18
** 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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