Tuesday, 18 March 2014

Ronaldo and Suarez continue to lead European Golden Shoe race

Ronaldo and Suarez continue to lead European Golden Shoe race
Real Madrid attacker Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool's Luis Suarez continue to lead the way in the race for the European Golden Shoe, but Lionel Messi's fine form for Barcelona in recent weeks has seen last year's winner storm into the top 10. 

Ronaldo netted once at the weekend to help Madrid to a vital 1-0 win over Malaga, while Suarez also took his tally to 25 following his goal in Liverpool's victory against Manchester United.

Meanwhile, third-placed Diego Costa got the winner in Atletico Madrid's win over Espanyol to keep up his fine goalscoring run as well.

PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Red Bull Salzburg hitman Jonatan Soriano both netted a double, but the winner of the week was Messi following his hat-trick in Barca's 7-0 win over Osasuna.

Finally, Bayern Munich's Mario Mandzukic and Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez enjoyed a successful week and sit joint ninth behind Eredivisie top scorer Alfred Finnbogason.

Rank
Player          
Country
Club
League
Weight
Goals
Points
1
Luis Suarez
 URU
Liverpool ENG
2
25 (+1)
50
=
 POR
 ESP
2
25 (+1)50
3
 ESP
 ESP
2
22 (+1)
44
4
Z. Ibrahimovic
 SWE
 FRA
1.5
25 (+2)
37.5
=
J. Soriano ESP Salzburg AUT
1.5
25 (+2)
37.5
6
Lionel Messi ARGBarcelona ESP
2
18 (+3)
36
=
Daniel Sturridge ENGLiverpool
 ENG
2
18
36
8
A. Finnbogason
 ISL
Heerenveen
 NED
1.5
23
34.5
9
Alexis Sanchez
 CHI
Barcelona
 ESP
2
17 (+1)
34
=
Mario Mandzukic
 CRO
Bayern Munich GER
2
17 (+1)
34

History & How It Works

Players such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry and Diego Forlan have won the European Golden Shoe in the past few seasons, with the Argentina international as the latest winner of the award following his 46 goals in 2012-13.

Other noteworthy winners include the likes of Francesco Totti, Luca Toni, Ronaldo, Marco van Basten, Eusebio and Gerd Muller.

The weightings are determined by the league's ranking on the Uefa coefficients, which in turn depend on the results of each league's clubs in European competition over the previous five seasons. Goals scored in the top five leagues according to the Uefa coefficients are multiplied by a factor of two, and goals scored in the leagues ranked six to 21 are multiplied by 1.5. Goals in all other leagues are worth one single point.

This measure has prevented players from so-called weaker leagues from winning the European Golden Shoe, since a goal scored in, for example, Armenia, Estonia or Azerbaijan, carries less weight than a goal scored in Serie A, La Liga, the Bundesliga or the Premier League.

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