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Lionel Messi storms into second place in European Golden Shoe race thanks to his four-goal haul against Valencia
The Argentine conjured up four goals as Barcelona thrashed Valencia, leaving him just two points behind Cristiano Ronaldo, while Burak Yilmaz gained ground on Robin van Persie
Feb 20, 2012 8:00:52 PM
By Enis Koylu
Getty Images
Lionel Messi leapfrogged Trans Narva's goal-scoring hero Aleksandrs Cekulajevs into second place in the race for the European Golden Shoe. The Argentine scored a stunning four goals in Barcelona's 5-1 demolition of Valencia, putting him just two points behind Cristiano Ronaldo, who could only manage one against Racing Santander.
Robin van Persie was involved in cup action over the weekend, but Burak Yilmaz scored two as Trabzonspor drew 3-3 with Kayserispor, leaving him just one point behind the Dutchman.
Seydou Doumbia has returned to CSKA Moscow following his unsuccessful Africa Cup of Nations campaign with Cote d'Ivoire, but with the Russian Premier League on hiatus, the Ivorian remains on 36 points.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar moved level with Doumbia, as well as Mario Gomez, but had the 28-year-old Dutchman netted a first-half penalty against Wolfsburg, he would have moved ahead of the duo.
Udinese's Antonio Di Natale and Manchester United's Wayne Rooney complete the top 10, level on 34 points each.
* = 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.
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Robin van Persie was involved in cup action over the weekend, but Burak Yilmaz scored two as Trabzonspor drew 3-3 with Kayserispor, leaving him just one point behind the Dutchman.
Seydou Doumbia has returned to CSKA Moscow following his unsuccessful Africa Cup of Nations campaign with Cote d'Ivoire, but with the Russian Premier League on hiatus, the Ivorian remains on 36 points.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar moved level with Doumbia, as well as Mario Gomez, but had the 28-year-old Dutchman netted a first-half penalty against Wolfsburg, he would have moved ahead of the duo.
Udinese's Antonio Di Natale and Manchester United's Wayne Rooney complete the top 10, level on 34 points each.
| Rank | Player |
Country | Club | League | Weight | Goals | Points |
| 1 | C. Ronaldo |  POR |
Real Madrid |
 ESP |
2 |
28 |
56 |
| 2 |
L. Messi |  ARG |
Barcelona | ESP |
2 | 27 |
54 |
| 3 |
A Cekulajevs |  LVA |
Trans* |  EST |
1 | 46 |
46 |
| 4 |
R. v Persie |
 NED |
Arsenal |
 ENG |
2 |
22 |
44 |
| 5 |
B. Yilmaz |  TUR |
Trabzonspor |
TUR |
1.5 | 29 |
43.5 |
| 6 | S. Doumbia |
 CIV |
CSKA |
 RUS |
1.5 |
24 |
36 |
| M. Gomez |
 GER |
Bayern |
GER |
2 | 18 |
36 | |
| K. Huntelaar | NED |
Schalke | GER |
2 | 18 |
36 | |
| 9 |
A. Di Natale |
 ITA |
Udinese | ITA |
2 | 17 |
34 |
| W. Rooney | ENG |
Man Utd | ENG |
2 | 17 |
34 |
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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