Last season’s joint ESM Golden Shoe winner, Cristiano Ronaldo, is the early-season pacesetter in this year’s standings.

The Real Madrid striker scored another hat-trick on Saturday (his 23rd in La Liga), as his side swept aside Celta Vigo 3-0 to record their 18th sucessive win. That took Ronaldo to 23 for the season in just 13 games – an astonishing ratio and one that puts him on course to smash Lionel Messi’s Spanish record of 50 goals, set back in 2012.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WffE35-TGi0

Behind Ronaldo come a number of players whose season has already finished or started early and are now heading for a lengthy winter break.

The top ten is rounded out by two Argentinian strikers, Sergio Aguero who has scored 14 goals this season and his compatriot, the reliably prolific Lionel Messi, who has notched 13, including a hat-trick at the weekend in Barcelona’s 5-1 win over local rivals Espanyol.

With Aguero set for a prolonged spell on the sidelines, the stages looks set for yet another Ronaldo-Messi showdown.

POS PLAYER TEAM GOALS FACTOR PTS

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 23 x 2 = 462. Evgeni Kabaev (Sillamäe Kalev) 36 x 1 = 36

3. Igor Subbotin (Levadia Tallinn) 32 x 1 = 32

4. Andrej Kramaric (HNK Rijeka) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5

5. Fabrice Kouadio ‘Manucho’ (FC Infonet) 30 x 1 = 30

6. Jonatan Soriano (Red Bull Salzburg) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5

7. Sergio Agüero (Manchester City) 14 x 2 = 28

Vladislavs Gutkovskis (Skonto Riga) 28 x 1 = 28

9. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 13 x 2 = 26

10. Vidar Örn Kjartansson (Valerenga IF) 25 x 1 = 25

11. Janis Ikaunieks (Metalurgs Liepajas) 23 x 1 = 23

Lasse Vibe (IFK Göteborg) 23 x 1 = 23

13. Nikolai Yanush (FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5

14. Diego Costa (Chelsea) 11 x 2 = 22

‘Neymar’ da Silva (FC Barcelona) 11 x 2 = 22

Klaemint Olsen (NSI) 22 x 1 = 22

Albert Prosa (Flora Tallinn) 22 x 1 = 22

18. Aleksandr Makas (FC Minsk) 14 x 1,5 = 21

Hidetoshi Wakui (Nomme Kaljü) 21 x 1 = 21

20. Carlos Bacca (Sevilla FC) 10 x 2 = 20

Christy Fagan (Saint Patrick’s Athletic) 20 x 1 = 20

Jackson Martinez (FC Porto) 10 x 2 = 20

Alexander Meier (Eintracht Frankfurt) 10 x 2 = 20

Patrick Hoban (FC Dundalk) 20 x 1 = 20

25. Alexandre Lacazette (Olympique Lyon) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5

26. Vladislav Ivanov (Levadia Tallinn) 19 x 1 = 19

Finnur Justinussen (Vikingur) 19 x 1 = 19

Niko Tokic (FK Siauliai) 19 x 1 = 19

Chris Venables (Aberystwyth Town) 19 x 1 = 19

Standings last updated 07/12/2014

Rules

Only the leading five countries – Spain, Italy, Germany, England and Portugal – 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.