Barcelona’s Lionel Messi retains his lead at the top of the ESM Golden Shoe standings after scoring in Barcelona’s 3-1 win at Malaga. That strike was the 28th goal of what has been a remarkable season thus far for the Argentinian. 

Behind Messi in the latest standings is Atletico Madrid’s Real Madrid’s who scored from the spot on Sunday to take his tally to 18 for the current campaign. Several other big names appear in the top ten, among them, Robin Van Persie, Edinson Cavani, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez, but they, along with Falcao, appear to be battling it out for the runners-up spot behind the runaway leader Messi.

Nestling among the European elite is Arturas Rimkevicius, the Lithianian striker who managed an impressive 35 goals for FK Siauliai in the now-completed 2012 A Lyga season.

POS PLAYER TEAM GOALS FACTOR PTS

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 28 x 2 = 56
2. Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid) 18 x 2 = 36
3. Arturas Rimkevicius (FK Siauliai) 35 x 1 = 35
4. Robin van Persie (Manchester United) 17 x 2 = 34
5. Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 16 x 2 = 32
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 16 x 2 = 32
7. Philipp Hosiner (Austria Vienna) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
8. Luis Suarez (Liverpool) 15 x 2 = 30
9. Stephan El Shaarawy (Milan) 14 x 2 = 28
Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 14 x 2 = 28
11. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Shakhtar Donetsk) 18 x 1,5 = 27
13. Demba Ba (Newcastle United/Chelsea) 13 x 2 = 26
Albert Meyong (Vitoria Setúbal) 13 x 2 = 26
Miguel Pérez Cuesta ‘Michu’ (Swansea City) 13 x 2 = 26
16. Raul Rusescu (Steaua Boekarest) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Carlos Bacca (Club Brugge) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
18. Wilfried Bony (Vitesse) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Oscar Cardozo (Benfica) 12 x 2 = 24
Ebrahim Sawaneh ‘Ibou’ (Oud-Heverlee Leuven) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen) 12 x 2 = 24
Jackson Martinez (FC Porto) 12 x 2 = 24
23. Waris Majeed Abdul (BK Häcken) 23 x 1 = 23
Vladislav Ivanov (JK Trans Narva) 23 x 1 = 23
25. Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Bilbao) 11 x 2 = 22
Rubén Castro (Real Betis) 11 x 2 = 22
Alexander Meier (Eintracht Frankfurt) 11 x 2 = 22
Tarmo Neemelo (Nomme Kalju) 22 x 1 = 22
Roberto Soldado (Valencia) 11 x 2 = 22
Gary Twigg (Shamrock Rovers) 22 x 1 = 22
31. Eliran Atar (Maccabi Tel Aviv) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Andreas Cornelius (FC Copenhagen) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Rafik Djebbour (Olympiakos) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Alfred Finnbogason (Heerenveen) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Leigh Griffiths (Hibernian) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Aron Jóhannsson (Aarhus GF) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Dieumerci Mbokani (Anderlecht) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Niall McGinn (Aberdeen) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Billy McKay (Inverness Caledonian Thistle) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Graziano Pellè (Feyenoord) 14 x 1,5 = 21
‘Rafael’ Pompeu Ledesma (FK Suduva) 21 x 1 = 21
Jonathan Soriano (Red Bull Salzburg) 14 x 1,5 = 21
* Standings last updated 14/01/2013

**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.