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Golden Shoe race looks set to be a three-way tussle between Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi & Robin van Persie
The Dutchman's hat-trick over Blackburn allowed him to gain on the Spain-based duo, while the gap between the two foes has closed thanks to the Argentine's strike on Saturday
6 Feb 2012 17:58:00
By Enis Koylu
Cristiano Ronaldo's failure to score in Real Madrid's 1-0 victory over Getafe, coupled with Lionel Messi's strike to seal Barcelona's win over Real Sociedad, saw the Argentine move to just two points behind the Portuguese superstar, level with Trans Narva's Aleksandrs Cekulajevs.
Elsewhere, Robin van Persie scored a hat-trick as Arsenal got a much-needed victory over Blackburn Rovers, moving the Dutchman clear of Trabzonspor's Burak Yilmaz, who failed to prevent his side from losing to Antalyaspor.
Seydou Doumbia is still on international duty with Cote D'Ivoire, but Senegal's early exit from the tournament allowed Demba Ba to return home and score for Newcastle, sending him level in the standings with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
Elsewhere, Antonio Di Natale's strikes against Fiorentina and Lecce saw him overtake AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Koln's Lukas Podolski and move into joint eighth spot, level with Huntelaar and Doumbia.
* = league season finished
History & How It Works
In 1967-68, French football magazine L'Equipe opted to hand out an award to the top goalscorer in all European leagues for his good performances during the season. Between 1968 and 1991, high profile names such as Eusebio, Gerd Muller, Ian Rush and Marco van Basten won the coveted trophy.
However, the gap between big and small leagues started to grow in the early 90s and L'Equipe decided to make the competition unofficial after the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) issued a protest in 1991. Darko Pancev won the award that season with 34 goals, but the CFA claimed that a player had scored 40 goals in Cyprus that term.
Adidas, sponsor of the awards, still handed out the trophy until 1996 before European Sports Magazine (with L'Equipe as a member) decided to make the title official again. ESM divided all European leagues in three groups according to strength, and attached to each group a quotient by which the number of goals is multiplied to obtain the player's rating. The European Golden Shoe was thus no longer necessarily handed to the top goalscorer, but to the player with the most points.
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 all 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.
Players such as Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Forlan and Lionel Messi have won the European Golden Shoe in the past few seasons.
Elsewhere, Robin van Persie scored a hat-trick as Arsenal got a much-needed victory over Blackburn Rovers, moving the Dutchman clear of Trabzonspor's Burak Yilmaz, who failed to prevent his side from losing to Antalyaspor.
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Seydou Doumbia is still on international duty with Cote D'Ivoire, but Senegal's early exit from the tournament allowed Demba Ba to return home and score for Newcastle, sending him level in the standings with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
Elsewhere, Antonio Di Natale's strikes against Fiorentina and Lecce saw him overtake AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Koln's Lukas Podolski and move into joint eighth spot, level with Huntelaar and Doumbia.
| Rank | Player |
Country | Club | League | Weight | Goals | Points |
| 1 | C. Ronaldo |  POR |
Real Madrid |
 ESP |
2 |
24 |
48 |
| 2 |
A Cekulajevs |  LVA |
Trans* |
 EST |
1 | 46 |
46 |
| 3 |
L. Messi |
 ARG |
Barcelona |
ESP |
2 | 23 |
46 |
| 4 |
R. v Persie |
 NED |
Arsenal |
 ENG |
2 |
22 |
44 |
| 5 |
B. Yilmaz |  TUR |
Trabzonspor |
TUR |
1.5 | 25 |
37.5 |
| 6 | S. Doumbia |
 CIV |
CSKA |
 RUS |
1.5 |
24 |
36 |
| 7 | M. Gomez |
 GER |
Bayern |
GER |
2 | 17 |
34 |
| 8 |
K. Huntelaar | NED |
Schalke |
GER |
2 | 16 |
32 |
| Demba Ba |
 SEN |
Newcastle |
ENG |
2 | 16 |
32 | |
| A. Di Natale |
 ITA |
Udinese |
ITA |
2 | 16 |
32 |
History & How It Works
In 1967-68, French football magazine L'Equipe opted to hand out an award to the top goalscorer in all European leagues for his good performances during the season. Between 1968 and 1991, high profile names such as Eusebio, Gerd Muller, Ian Rush and Marco van Basten won the coveted trophy.
However, the gap between big and small leagues started to grow in the early 90s and L'Equipe decided to make the competition unofficial after the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) issued a protest in 1991. Darko Pancev won the award that season with 34 goals, but the CFA claimed that a player had scored 40 goals in Cyprus that term.
Adidas, sponsor of the awards, still handed out the trophy until 1996 before European Sports Magazine (with L'Equipe as a member) decided to make the title official again. ESM divided all European leagues in three groups according to strength, and attached to each group a quotient by which the number of goals is multiplied to obtain the player's rating. The European Golden Shoe was thus no longer necessarily handed to the top goalscorer, but to the player with the most points.
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 all 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.
Players such as Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Forlan and Lionel Messi have won the European Golden Shoe in the past few seasons.
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 6-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
21:38 BST
And it's now 3-1 to Turkey! An own goal from Pepe and we're into time added on. Do people think Portugal will qualify from their group?
21:34 BST
Into the final few minutes with Portugal still 2-1 down to Turkey. Cristiano Ronaldo missed his second ever penalty for Portugal earlier on.
21:12 BST
Elsewhere in Europe, Portugal are currently losing at home to Turkey. Not looking good for them at the Euros!
21:03 BST
As promised, here is the match report on Netherlands 6-0 Northern Ireland.
21:00 BST
And here's more from Roy Hodgson on the injury concerns in the England squad.
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