Another two goals for Lionel Messi in Barcelona’s 3-1 win over Ray Vallecano, extends his lead at the top of the ESM Golden Shoe standings to 28 points.

That’s 41* for the season for the Argentinian and the 18th consecutive league game in which he has been on target – thus extending his own record for scoring in successive matches.

Messi’s closest contender, albeit a distant one, is Cristiano Ronaldo, who maintained his impressive form by scoring in Real Madrid’s 5-2 demolition of Deportivo La Coruna,

Elsewhere, there were plenty of goals from Europe’s leading marksmen with braces for Austria Vienna’s Philipp Hosiner, Napoli’s Edinson Cavani and Vitesse Arnhem’s Wilfried Bony, plus a solitary strike for Paris Saint-Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Despite that effort, the Swede drops out of the top ten to be replaced by Robert Lewandowski, who scored twice in Borussia Dortmund’s 5-1 win over Freiburg.

* There is some dispute over Messi’s ‘goal’ against Athletic Bilbao on December 2, and until that has been clarified we have chosen to exclude it from his official tally.

POS PLAYER TEAM GOALS FACTOR PTS

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 41 x 2 = 82
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 27 x 2 = 54
3. Jackson Martinez (FC Porto) 23 x 2 = 46
4. Luis Suarez (Liverpool) 22 x 2 = 44
5. Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid) 21 x 2 = 42
6. Philipp Hosiner (Austria Vienna) 27 x 1.5 = 40.5
7. Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 20 x 2 = 40
8. Wilfried Bony (Vitesse) 26 x 1.5 = 39
9. Robin van Persie (Manchester United) 19 x 2 = 38
Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) 19 x 2 = 38
11. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain) 25 x 1.5 = 37.5
12. Arturas Rimkevicius (FK Siauliai) 35 x 1 = 35
13. Eliran Atar (Maccabi Tel Aviv) 22 x 1.5 = 33
Carlos Bacca (Club Brugge) 22 x 1.5 = 33
15. Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur) 16 x 2 = 32
Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen) 16 x 2 = 32
Stephan El Shaarawy (Milan) 16 x 2 = 32
18. Graziano Pellè (Feyenoord) 21 x 1.5 = 31.5
19. Demba Ba (Newcastle United/Chelsea) 15 x 2 = 30
Oscar Cardozo (Benfica) 15 x 2 = 30
Rafik Djebbour (Olympiakos) 20 x 1.5 = 30
Alfred Finnbogason (Heerenveen) 20 x 1.5 = 30
Michael Higdon (Motherwell) 20 x 1.5 = 30
Mario Mandzukic (Bayern Munich) 15 x 2 = 30
Billy McKay (Inverness Caledonian Thistle) 20 x 1.5 = 30
Miguel Pérez Cuesta ‘Michu’ (Swansea City) 15 x 2 = 30
Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 15 x 2 = 30
Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla) 15 x 2 = 30
29. Leigh Griffiths (Hibernian) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Shakhtar Donetsk) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
Jonathan Soriano (Red Bull Salzburg) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
32. Roberto Soldado (Valencia) 14 x 2 = 28
33. Jozy Altidore (AZ) 18 x 1.5 = 27
Raul Rusescu (Steaua Bucharest) 18 x 1.5 = 27
35. Christian Benteke (Aston Villa) 13 x 2 = 26
Rubén Castro (Real Betis) 13 x 2 = 26
‘Éder’zito António Macedo Lopes (Sporting Braga) 13 x 2 = 26
Rickie Lambert (Southampton) 13 x 2 = 26
Erik Lamela (Roma) 13 x 2 = 26
Romelu Lukaku (West Bromwich Albion) 13 x 2 = 26
Albert Meyong (Vitoria Setúbal) 13 x 2 = 26
Giampaolo Pazzini (Milan) 13 x 2 = 26
43. Ebrahim Sawaneh ‘Ibou’ (Oud-Heverlee Leuven) 17 x 1.5 = 25.5
Dieumerci Mbokani (Anderlecht) 17 x 1.5 = 25.5
45. Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Bilbao) 12 x 2 = 24
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Saint-Etienne) 16 x 1.5 = 24
Andreas Cornelius (FC Copenhagen) 16 x 1.5 = 24
German Gustavo Denis (Atalanta) 12 x 2 = 24
Edin Dzeko (Manchester City) 12 x 2 = 24
Gary Hooper (Celtic) 16 x 1.5 = 24
Vedad Ibisevic (Stuttgart) 12 x 2 = 24
Stevan Jovetic (Fiorentina) 12 x 2 = 24
Frank Lampard (Chelsea) 12 x 2 = 24
Rodrigo Lima (Benfica) 12 x 2 = 24
Niall McGinn (Aberdeen) 16 x 1.5 = 24
Alexander Meier (Eintracht Frankfurt) 12 x 2 = 24
Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich) 12 x 2 = 24
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 12 x 2 = 24
Adám Szalai (Mainz) 12 x 2 = 24
Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad) 12 x 2 = 24
Jelle Vossen (Genk) 16 x 1.5 = 24
Burak Yilmaz (Galatasaray) 16 x 1.5 = 24
* Standings last updated 18/03/2013

**Rules

Only the leading four countries – Spain, Italy, Germany, 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.