KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: Lionel Messi is now the lone second-placed pursuer of Robert Lewandowski in the race for the ESM European Golden Shoe.

Messi scored twice for Barcelona at the weekend in the exciting LaLiga title sprint to lift his tally to 26, some 10 behind Bayern Munich’s superstar Pole.

FIFA’s world player of the year remains set fair to become only the third player since 2010 to interrupt Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s command of the award 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. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 28 x 2 = 56

3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) 27 x 2 = 54

4. Erling Braut Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) 25 x 2 = 50
— Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) 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. Memphis Depay (Olympique Lyonnais) 19 x 2 = 38
Ciro Immobile (SS Lazio Roma) 19 x 2 = 38
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
Dusan Vlahovic (ACF Fiorentina) 19 x 2 = 38
Wissam Ben Yedder (AS Monaco) 19 x 2 = 38
22. Amahl Pellegrino (Kristiansund BK) 25 x 1,5 = 37,5
23. Giorgos Giakoumakis (VVV-Venlo) 24 x 1,5 = 36
24. Milan Makarić (FK Radnik Surdulica) 23 x 1,5 = 34,5
25. 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
28. Bruno Miguel Borges Fernandes (Manchester United) 16 x 2 = 32
Heung-Min Son (Tottenham Hotspur) 16 x 2 = 32
Kevin Volland (AS Monaco) 16 x 2 = 32
31. Aaron Boupendza (Hatayspor Kulübü) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
Thomas Henry (Oud-Heverlee Leuven) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
Ramón Nazareno Miérez (NK Osijek) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
34. Domenico Berardi (US Sassuolo Calcio) 15 x 2 = 30
Gianni Bruno (SV Zulte Waregem) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton FC) 15 x 2 = 30
Patson Daka (Red Bull Salzburg) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan) 15 x 2 = 30
Lautaro Martínez (Internazionale Milano) 15 x 2 = 30
‘João Pedro’ Galvão (Cagliari Calcio) 15 x 2 = 30
41. Youssef El-Arabi (Olympiakos Piraeus) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
Sardar Azmoun (FC Zenit Sint-Petersburg) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
Cyle Larin (Besiktas JK) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
Philip Zinckernagel (FK Bodø/Glimt) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
45. Patrick Bamford (Leeds United) 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
Terem Moffi (FC Lorient) 14 x 2 = 28
Duván Zapata (Atalanta Bergamo) 14 x 2 = 28
51. Takumo Asano (FK Partizan Beograd) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Mame Biram Diouf (Hatayspor Kulübü) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Arthur Mendonça Cabral (FC Basel) 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
57. Ludovic Ajorque (Racing Strasbourg Alsace) 13 x 2 = 26
Iago Aspas Juncal (RC Celta de Vigo) 13 x 2 = 26
Andy Delort (Montpellier Hérault SC) 13 x 2 = 26
Zachary Hadji (CS Fola Esch) 26 x 1 = 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
Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa FC) 13 x 2 = 26
Burak Yilmaz (Lille OSC) 13 x 2 = 26
66. Steven Berghuis (Feyenoord Rotterdam) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Milan Bojovic (FK Mladost Lučani) 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
Yuma Suzuki (Sint-Truiden VV) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Roman Yaremchuk (KAA Gent) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5