Ronaldo scores four to top Golden Shoe rankings

It was all change at the top of the ESM Golden Shoe rankings this weekend with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring four to go four points clear of the goalless Lionel Messi.

Ronaldo netted four for Real Madrid CF in their 6-2 Liga victory at Sevilla FC, including three second-half goals in quick succession, to take his tally for the season to 33 and climb above Messi, who failed to score in FC Barcelona's 2-0 home win over city rivals RCD Espanyol.

Mario Gomez was also among the goals in the Bundesliga, hitting four in FC Bayern München's emphatic 8-1 success at FC St Pauli to leapfrog Edinson Cavani into fourth place. Antonio Di Natale's first-half double for Udinese Calcio against S. S. Lazio moved him one shy of last year's tally and earned him outright third spot in the standings. The rest of the top ten remain unchanged after a relatively dry weekend for Europe's hottest guns.

ESM Golden Shoe standings: 9 May
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid CF) 33 x 2 = 66
2. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 31 x 2 = 62
3. Antonio Di Natale (Udinese Calcio) 28 x 2 = 56
4. Mario Gomez (FC Bayern München) 27 x 2 = 54
5. Edinson Cavani (SSC Napoli) 26 x 2 = 52
6. Papiss Cissé (SC Freiburg) 22 x 2 = 44
7. Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United FC) 21 x 2 = 42
Moussa Sow (LOSC Lille Métropole)  21 x 2 = 42
9. Samuel Eto'o (FC Internazionale Milano) 20 x 2 = 40
Kévin Gameiro (FC Lorient) 20 x 2 = 40

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.