Another award looms for Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo will go into the UEFA Champions League final all but certain of winning of the ESM Golden Shoe for his 31 goals in the Premier League this season.

Healthy lead
The Portuguese phenomenon is eight points clear of his closest rival in the race to be Europe's best goalscorer of 2007/08, RCD Mallorca's Daniel Güiza, who has scored 27 league goals. With the seasons in the leading five European leagues all at an end, it is incredibly unlikely that anyone can catch the Manchester United FC player at the top of the table.

Improbable scenario
The nearest player to Ronaldo in the rankings who still has domestic league fixtures to play is Celtic FC's Scott McDonald, who is 16th in the table with 37.5 points. With 1.5 points being awarded for every goal in the Scottish Premier League, as opposed to two south of the border, McDonald would need 17 goals in his side's final league game to take the title from Ronaldo.


ESM Golden Shoe standings: 19 MayPosPlayerClub/National teamGlsValPts1Cristiano RonaldoManchester United FC / Portugal312622Daniel GüizaRCD Mallorca / Spain272543Klaas Jan HuntelaarAFC Ajax / Netherlands331.549.54Emmanuel AdebayorArsenal FC / Togo242484Luis FabianoSevilla FC / Brazil242484Luca ToniFC Bayern München / Italy242484Fernando TorresLiverpool FC / Spain242488Alessandro Del PieroJuventus / Italy212429Karim BenzemaOlympique Lyonnais / France 202409Rhys GriffithsLlanelli AFC / Wales401409David TrezeguetJuventus / France20240

Only the leading five countries (Spain, Italy, Germany, France and England) on the UEFA Ranking have two as their multiplier. This is to emphasise the difference in (international) performance level between the clubs from those countries and those from the other nations.

A player cannot first play in a summer league (eg Norway) and then in a winter league (eg Spain) and combine the points total for each season.

Figures from Voetbal International