KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Andre Silva, with only a few matchdays remaining, will need a remarkable feat of marksmanship if any of them is to overhaul Robert Lewandowski in the race for the ESM European Golden Shoe.

The Pole returned to Bundesliga duty at the weekend after a month’s injury absence to add to his tally with a stoppage-time strike in Bayern Munich’s surprisse 2-1 defeat at Mainz.

That goal was enough to extend his Golden Shoe lead to 11 goals and virtually ensure that he becomes only the third player since 2010 to interrupt Ronaldo and Messi’s award command after Barcelona’s Luis Suarez in 2016 and Lazio’s Ciro Immobile last season.

Early pacemaker Kasper Junker of Norway’s Bodo/Glimt has now slipped down to 11h place.

Junker scored 27 and was a long-time leader of the standings because 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.

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.

Golden Shoe standings

(Ranking multiplication based on UEFA coefficient status)

1. Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern München) 36 x 2 = 72

2. Erling Braut Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) 25 x 2 = 50
— Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) 25 x 2 = 50
— Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 25 x 2 = 50
— Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) 25 x 2 = 50
— André Miguel Silva (Eintracht Frankfurt) 25 x 2 = 50

7. Paul Ebere Onuachu (KRC Genk) 29 x 1,5 = 43,5
8. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 21 x 2 = 42
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)21 x 2 = 42
Romelu Lukaku (Internazionale Milano) 21 x 2 = 42
11. Kasper Junker (FK Bodø/Glimt) 27 x 1,5 = 40,5
12. ‘Gerard’ Moreno Balagueró (Villarreal CF) 20 x 2 = 40
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC) 20 x 2 = 40
Wout Weghorst (VfL Wolfsburg) 20 x 2 = 40
15. Luis Muriel Fruto (Atalanta Bergamo) 19 x 2 = 38
Simeon ‘Simy’ Nwankwo (FC Crotone) 19 x 2 = 38
Luis Alberto Suárez (Atlético Madrid) 19 x 2 = 38
18. Amahl Pellegrino (Kristiansund BK) 25 x 1,5 = 37,5
19. Memphis Depay (Olympique Lyonnais) 18 x 2 = 36
Giorgos Giakoumakis (VVV-Venlo) 24 x 1,5 = 36
Ciro Immobile (SS Lazio Roma) 18 x 2 = 36
Wissam Ben Yedder (AS Monaco) 18 x 2 = 36
23. Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla FC) 17 x 2 = 34
Lorenzo Insigne (SSC Napoli Calcio) 17 x 2 = 34
Andrej Kramaric (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim) 17 x 2 = 34
Dusan Vlahovic (ACF Fiorentina) 17 x 2 = 34
27. Bruno Miguel Borges Fernandes (Manchester United) 16 x 2 = 32
28. Aaron Boupendza (Hatayspor Kulübü) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
Thomas Henry (Oud-Heverlee Leuven) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
30. Gianni Bruno (SV Zulte Waregem) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Patson Daka (Red Bull Salzburg) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan) 15 x 2 = 30
Milan Makarić (FK Radnik Surdulica) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Lautaro Martínez (Internazionale Milano) 15 x 2 = 30
Ramón Nazareno Miérez (NK Osijek) 20 x 1,5 = 30
‘João Pedro’ Galvão (Cagliari Calcio) 15 x 2 = 30
Heung-Min Son (Tottenham Hotspur) 15 x 2 = 30
Kevin Volland (AS Monaco) 15 x 2 = 30
39. Youssef El-Arabi (Olympiakos Piraeus) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
Philip Zinckernagel (FK Bodø/Glimt) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
41. Patrick Bamford (Leeds United) 14 x 2 = 28
Domenico Berardi (US Sassuolo Calcio) 14 x 2 = 28
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton FC) 14 x 2 = 28
Boulaye Dia (Stade de Reims) 14 x 2 = 28
Alexander Isak (Real Sociedad de Fútbol) 14 x 2 = 28
Sasa Kalajdzic (VfB Stuttgart) 14 x 2 = 28
Duván Zapata (Atalanta Bergamo) 14 x 2 = 28
48. Takumo Asano (FK Partizan Beograd) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Jean-Pierre Nsame (BSC Young Boys) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Christoffer Nyman (IFK Norrköping) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Haris Seferovic (SL Benfica) 18 x 1,5 = 27
52. Ludovic Ajorque (Racing Strasbourg Alsace) 13 x 2 = 26
Iago Aspas Juncal (RC Celta de Vigo) 13 x 2 = 26
Gaëtan Laborde (Montpellier Hérault SC) 13 x 2 = 26
Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal) 13 x 2 = 26
Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) 13 x 2 = 26
57. Steven Berghuis (Feyenoord Rotterdam) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Pedro António Pereira Gonçalves ‘Pote’ (Sporting CP) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Nenad Lukic (FK TSC Backa Topola) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Donyell Malen (PSV Eindhoven) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Arthur Mendonça Cabral (FC Basel) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Yuma Suzuki (Sint-Truiden VV) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Roman Yaremchuk (KAA Gent) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
64. Sardar Azmoun (FC Zenit Sint-Petersburg) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Andrea Belotti (Torino FC) 12 x 2 = 24
Veton Berisha (Viking FK Stavanger) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Milan Bojovic (FK Mladost Lučani) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Andy Delort (Montpellier Hérault SC) 12 x 2 = 24
Mame Biram Diouf (Hatayspor Kulübü) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Odsonne Édouard (Celtic FC) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Amine Gouiri (OGC Nice) 12 x 2 = 24
Ilkay Gündogan (Manchester City) 12 x 2 = 24
Raphael Holzhauser (K Beerschot AC) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Bioty Moise Kean (Paris Saint-Germain) 12 x 2 = 24
Rafael ‘Rafa Mir’ Vicente (SD Huesca) 12 x 2 = 24
Smail Prevljak (KAS Eupen) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Lars Stindl (Borussia Mönchengladbach) 12 x 2 = 24
Karl Toko Ekambi (Olympique Lyonnais) 12 x 2 = 24
Ike Ugbo (Cercle Brugge KSV) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa FC) 12 x 2 = 24
Burak Yilmaz (Lille OSC) 12 x 2 = 24

** 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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