Lionel Messi extended his lead atop the ESM Golden Shoe standings to four points at the weekend after scoring in Barcelona’s 2-0 victory over Osasuna.
Messi came off the bench to score, while his nearest challenger Cristiano Ronaldo, who also started on the bench at the weekend, failed to score in Real Madrid’s rout of Valencia Saturday.
Another striker who has been consistently finding the net this season is Napoli striker Edinson Cavani. Cavani’s 26th league goal of the season at the weekend move into into a third place tie with Udinese’s Antonio Di Natale.
Mario Gomez consolidated fifth position after his fourth goal in two games rescued a point for Bayern Munich in their 1-1 draw with relegation-threatened Eintracht Frankfurt. Meanwhile, Samuel Eto’o moved above Kenny Miller, scoring Inter Milan’s second as they came from behind to beat Lazio 2-1.
ESM Golden Shoe standings: 26 April
1. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 31 x 2 = 62
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid CF) 29 x 2 = 58
3. Antonio Di Natale (Udinese Calcio) 26 x 2 = 52
Edinson Cavani (SSC Napoli) 26 x 2 = 52
5. Mario Gomez (FC Bayern München) 23 x 2 = 46
6. Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United FC) 21 x 2 = 42
Moussa Sow (LOSC Lille Métropole) 21 x 2 = 42
8. Papiss Demba Cissé (SC Freiburg) 20 x 2 = 40
Samuel Eto’o (FC Internazionale Milano) 20 x 2 = 40
10.Kenny Miller (Rangers FC/Bursaspor) 26 x 1,5 = 39
Rules
Only the leading five countries – Spain, Italy, Germany, France and England – in the UEFA rankings have two as their multiplier. This is to emphasise the difference in (international) performance level between clubs from those countries and those of other nations.
A player cannot play first in a summer league (e.g. Norway) and then in a winter league (e.g. Spain) and combine the points totals for each season.