A hat-trick in Real Madrid’s 4-1 win over Sevilla, enabled Cristiano Ronaldo to reduce the arrears to 11 goals behind the runaway leader, Lionel Messi, in the 2012-13 ESM Golden Shoe standings.

It was Ronaldo’s 20th hat-trick since he joined the Spanish champions in 2009. It was also his 136th league goal in 123 appearances in that time. These are remarkable figures for any era and would garner more acclaim were it not for the fact that Messi has now scored 150 league goals in the same period.

As for the Argentinian, he enjoyed a relatively quiet day by his astonishing standards, scoring just once in Barcelona’s 6-1 rout of Getafe. That’s 35 for the season so far and a goal in each of his last 13 appearances for Barcelona.

Elsewhere, there were goals for three other strikers in the top ten, with Edinson Cavani, Radamel Falcao and Robin Van Persie, all netting for Napoli, Atletico Madrid and Manchester United respectively. Impressively though this trio has performed throughout the current campaign, they have been thoroughly eclipsed by the leading duo.

POS PLAYER TEAM GOALS FACTOR PTS

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 35 x 2 = 70
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 24 x 2 = 48
3. Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid) 19 x 2 = 38
Jackson Martinez (FC Porto) 19 x 2 = 38
Robin van Persie (Manchester United) 19 x 2 = 38
6. Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 18 x 2 = 36
7. Arturas Rimkevicius (FK Siauliai) 35 x 1 = 35
8. Luis Suarez (Liverpool) 17 x 2 = 34
9. Philipp Hosiner (Austria Vienna) 21 x 1.5 = 31.5
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain) 21 x 1.5 = 31.5
11. Miguel Pérez Cuesta ‘Michu’ (Swansea City) 15 x 2 = 30
Stephan El Shaarawy (Milan) 15 x 2 = 30
13. Demba Ba (Newcastle United/Chelsea) 14 x 2 = 28
Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen) 14 x 2 = 28
Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) 14 x 2 = 28
Mario Mandzukic (Bayern Munich) 14 x 2 = 28
Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 14 x 2 = 28
18. Eliran Atar (Maccabi Tel Aviv) 18 x 1.5 = 27
Carlos Bacca (Brugge) 18 x 1.5 = 27
Wilfried Bony (Vitesse) 18 x 1.5 = 27
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Shakhtar Donetsk) 18 x 1.5 = 27
22. Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur) 13 x 2 = 26
Albert Meyong (Vitoria Setúbal) 13 x 2 = 26
24. Billy McKay (Inverness Caledonian Thistle) 17 x 1.5 = 25,5
Raul Rusescu (Steaua Bucharest) 17 x 1,5 = 25.5
26. Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Bilbao) 12 x 2 = 24
Oscar Cardozo (Benfica) 12 x 2 = 24
Rubén Castro (Real Betis) 12 x 2 = 24
Rafik Djebbour (Olympiakos) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Edin Dzeko (Manchester City) 12 x 2 = 24
Alfred Finnbogason (Heerenveen) 16 x 1.5 = 24
Ebrahim Sawaneh ‘Ibou’ (Oud-Heverlee Leuven) 16 x 1.5 = 24
Dieumerci Mbokani (Anderlecht) 16 x 1.5 = 24
Alexander Meier (Eintracht Frankfurt) 12 x 2 = 24
Adám Szalai (Mainz 05) 12 x 2 = 24
Jelle Vossen (Genk) 16 x 1.5 = 24
37. Waris Majeed Abdul (BK Häcken) 23 x 1 = 23
Vladislav Ivanov (JK Trans Narva) 23 x 1 = 23
39. Jozy Altidore (AZ) 15 x 1.5 = 22.
Leigh Griffiths (Hibernian) 15 x 1.5 = 22.5
Michael Higdon (Motherwell) 15 x 1.5 = 22.5
Niall McGinn (Aberdeen) 15 x 1.5 = 22.5
Graziano Pellè (Feyenoord) 15 x 1.5 = 22.5
44. Christian Benteke (Aston Villa) 11 x 2 = 22
Rickie Lambert (Southampton) 11 x 2 = 22
Erik Lamela (Roma) 11 x 2 = 22
Frank Lampard (Chelsea) 11 x 2 = 22
Thomas Müller (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
Theo Walcott (Arsenal) 11 x 2 = 22
53. Andreas Cornelius (FC Copenhagen) 14 x 1.5 = 21
Aron Jóhannsson (Aarhus) 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 11/02/2013

**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.