Cristiano Ronaldo drew a rare blank this weekend, but he remains two points clear of longstanding leader, Aleksandrs Čekulajevs, at the top of the ESM Golden Shoe rankings.

Ronaldo’s arch-rival Lionel Messi ended his recent goal ‘drought’ by scoring for the first time in three games in Barcelona’s 2-1 victory over Real Sociedad.

Meanwhile, moving closer to La Liga duo is Arsenal’s Robin van Persie whose hat-trick against Blackburn on Saturday took his tally for the season to 22, just two goals short of Ronaldo at the top of the rankings.

POS PLAYER TEAM GOALS FACTOR PTS

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 24 x 2 = 48
2. Aleksandrs Cekulajevs (Trans Narva) 46 x 1 = 46
3. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 23 x 2 = 46
4. Robin van Persie (Arsenal) 22 x 2 = 44
5. Burak Yilmaz (Trabzonspor) 25 x 1,5 = 37,5
6. Seydou Doumbia (CSKA Moscow) 24 x 1,5 = 36
7. Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich) 17 x 2 = 34
8. Demba Ba (Newcastle United) 16 x 2 = 32
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke) 16 x 2 = 32
Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 16 x 2 = 32
11. Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero (Manchester City) 15 x 2 = 30
Olivier Giroud (Montpellier) 15 x 2 = 30
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Milan) 15 x 2 = 30
Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen) 15 x 2 = 30
Lukas Podolski (Cologne) 15 x 2 = 30
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 15 x 2 = 30
17. Bas Dost (Heerenveen) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
18. Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid) 14 x 2 = 28
Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid) 14 x 2 = 28
Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) 14 x 2 = 28
21. David Lafata (Jablonec) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Jérémy Perbet (Mons) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Artjoms Rudnevs (Lech Poznán) 18 x 1,5 = 27
24. Mostafa Abdellaoue (Tromsö) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
25. Ole Martin Arst (Start Kristiansand) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 12 x 2 = 24
Gérman Gustavo Denis (Atalanta) 12 x 2 = 24
Edin Dzeko (Manchester City) 12 x 2 = 24
Stevan Jovetic (Fiorentina) 12 x 2 = 24
Aleksandr Kerzhakov (Zenit St.Petersburg) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Diego Milito (Internazionale) 12 x 2 = 24
Rodrigo Palacio (Genoa) 12 x 2 = 24
Rade Prica (Rosenborg) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Marco Reus (Borussia Mönchengladbach) 12 x 2 = 24
Roberto Soldado (Valencia) 12 x 2 = 24
Aiyegbeni Yakubu (Blackburn Rovers) 12 x 2 = 24

* Standings last updated 06/02/2012
**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.