LONDON: Kylian Mbappe emerged as the leading pursuer to Lionel Messi  in the rankings for the ESM Golden Shoe which crowns European football’s leading league marksman.

Mbappe’s hat-trick in Paris Saint-Germain’s 9-0 thrashing of Guingamp at the weekend lifted him to 17 goals, one behind Messi and one ahead of Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah who scored twice against Crystal Palace.

The weekend’s exploits meant that the current leagues took over the top three spots which had earlier been shared by the calendar-year championships.

Initial leader was Brazilian Ellinton Antonio Costa Morais who has now dropped back to fourth place. The 28-year-old from Bauru, known as Liliu, scored 31 goals for Nõmme Kalju of Estonia.

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 to 2.0 while the valuation for for players from Benfica, Sporting and Porto etc was downgraded to 1.5. Goals in the countries ranked on down from 23 stand at face value.

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) 18 x 2 = 36

2. Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) 17 x 2 = 34
3. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC) 16 x 2 = 32
4. Ellenton ‘Liliu’ (Nõmme Kalju FC) 31 x 1 = 31
5. Zakaria Beglarishvili (FC Flora Tallinn) 30 x 1 = 30
Mbaye Diagne (Kasimpasa SK) 20 x 1,5 = 30
‘Paulinho’ de Oliveira (BK Häcken) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Luis Suárez (FC Barcelona) 15 x 2 = 30
9. Patrick Hoban (FC Dundalk) 29 x 1 = 29
10. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) 14 x 2 = 28
Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain) 14 x 2 = 28
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) 14 x 2 = 28
Fabio Quagliarella (UC Sampdoria) 14 x 2 = 28
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) 14 x 2 = 28
Duván Zapata (Atalanta Bergamo) 14 x 2 = 28
16. Roman Debelko (FC Levadia Tallinn) 27 x 1 = 27
Linus Hallenius (GIF Sundsvall) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Nikolai Komlichenko (FK Mladá Boleslav) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Robert Skov (FC København) 18 x 1,5 = 27
20. Luka Jovic (SG Eintracht Frankfurt) 13 x 2 = 26
‘Neymar’ da Silva (Paris Saint-Germain) 13 x 2 = 26
Nicolas Pépé (Lille OSC) 13 x 2 = 26
Krzysztof Piatek (Genoa CFC) 13 x 2 = 26
24. Paco Alcácer (Borussia Dortmund) 12 x 2 = 24
Wahbi Khazri (AS Saint-Étienne) 12 x 2 = 24
Emiliano Sala (FC Nantes/Cardiff City) 12 x 2 = 24
Mbwane Ally Samatta (KRC Genk) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Cristhian Stuani (Girona FC) 12 x 2 = 24
29. Liviu Antal (FK Zalgiris Vilnius) 23 x 1 = 23
30. Luuk de Jong (PSV Eindhoven) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
31. Ciro Immobile (SS Lazio Roma) 11 x 2 = 22
Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern München) 11 x 2 = 22
Arkadiusz Milik (SSC Napoli) 11 x 2 = 22
Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund) 11 x 2 = 22
Florian Thauvin (Olympique Marseille) 11 x 2 = 22
Timo Werner (RasenBallsport Leipzig) 11 x 2 = 22
Budu Zivzivadze (FC Dinamo Tblisi) 22 x 1 = 22
38. João Klauss (HJK Helsinki) 21 x 1 = 21
Tristan Koskor (JK Tammeka Tartu) 21 x 1 = 21
Aluísio ‘Júnior Moraes’ (FC Shakhtar Donetsk) 14 x 1,5 = 21
41. Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero (Manchester City) 10 x 2 = 20
Iago Aspas Juncal (RC Celta de Vigo) 10 x 2 = 20
Giorgi Gabedava (FC Chikhura Sachkhere) 20 x 1 = 20
Sébastien Haller (SG Eintracht Frankfurt) 10 x 2 = 20
Eden Hazard (Chelsea FC) 10 x 2 = 20
Adrian Justinussen (HB Tórshavn) 20 x 1 = 20
Mykola Kovtalyuk (FC Dila Gori) 20 x 1 = 20
Alassane Pléa (Borussia Mönchengladbach) 10 x 2 = 20
Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) 10 x 2 = 20
Callum Wilson (AFC Bournemouth) 10 x 2 = 20
51. Nany Landry Dimata (RSC Anderlecht) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Nikola Djurdjic (Hammarby IF) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Romain Gall (GIF Sundsvall/Malmö FF) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Guillaume Hoarau (BSC Young Boys) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Ionut Mitrita (Universitatea Craiova 1948) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Markus Rosenberg (Malmö FF) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Francisco ‘Fran’ Sol (Willem II/Dynamo Kiev) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
George Tucudean (CFR Cluj 1907) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Kamil Wilczek (Brøndby IF) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
.
* 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).
.
###########
.