Most of the leading contenders in the ESM Golden Shoe were on target again over the weekend. Barcelona’s Lionel Messi retains his lead at the top of the standings after scoring in Barcelona’s 3-2 defeat at Real Sociedad. 

Behind the Argentinian lie a trio of prolific forwards, all of whom are in the form of their lives at the moment. Although Ateltico Madrid’s Radamel Falcao drew a rare blank, Manchester United’s Robin Van Persie was on target against Spurs while Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in Real Madrid’s 5-o thrashing of Valencia.

Elsewhere, Uruguayan duo Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez were on target for Napoli and Liverpool respectively, while PSG’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic moves into the top ten after scoring the only goal of the game against Bordeaux.

POS PLAYER TEAM GOALS FACTOR PTS

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 29 x 2 = 58
2. Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid) 18 x 2 = 36
Robin van Persie (Manchester United) 18 x 2 = 36
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 18 x 2 = 36
5. Arturas Rimkevicius (FK Siauliai) 35 x 1 = 35
6. Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 16 x 2 = 32
Luis Suarez (Liverpool) 16 x 2 = 32
8. Philipp Hosiner (Austria Vienna) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
9. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
10. Demba Ba (Newcastle United/Chelsea) 14 x 2 = 28
Stephan El Shaarawy (Milan) 14 x 2 = 28
Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 14 x 2 = 28
13. Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Shakhtar Donetsk) 18 x 1,5 = 27
14. Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen) 13 x 2 = 26
Albert Meyong (Vitoria Setúbal) 13 x 2 = 26
Miguel Pérez Cuesta ‘Michu’ (Swansea City) 13 x 2 = 26
17. Raul Rusescu (Steaua Bucharest) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Carlos Bacca (Club Brugge) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
19. Eliran Atar (Maccabi Tel Aviv) 16 x 1,5 = 24
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
Jackson Martinez (FC Porto) 12 x 2 = 24
Billy McKay (Inverness Caledonian Thistle) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Alexander Meier (Eintracht Frankfurt) 12 x 2 = 24
26. Waris Majeed Abdul (BK Häcken) 23 x 1 = 23
Vladislav Ivanov (JK Trans Narva) 23 x 1 = 23
28. Rafik Djebbour (Olympiakos) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
Leigh Griffiths (Hibernian) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
Michael Higdon (Motherwell) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
Dieumerci Mbokani (Anderlecht) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
32. Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Bilbao) 11 x 2 = 22
Rubén Castro (Real Betis) 11 x 2 = 22
Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) 11 x 2 = 22
Mario Mandzukic (Bayern Munich) 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
39. Jozy Altidore (AZ) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Andreas Cornelius (FC Copenhagen) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Alfred Finnbogason (Heerenveen) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Aron Jóhannsson (Aarhus) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Niall McGinn (Aberdeen) 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
Jelle Vossen (Genk) 14 x 1,5 = 21
* Standings last updated 21/01/2013

**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.