Ronaldo draws level with Suarez in Golden Shoe race

The Uruguayan could not find the target as Liverpool lost 2-0 to Chelsea, while the Real Madrid star led his side to victory with two goals

Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo drew level with Liverpool star Luis Suarez at the top of the rankings for the European Golden Shoe thanks to his double in the 4-0 win over Osasuna.

Suarez was made to endure a frustrating weekend as Chelsea won 2-0 at Anfield thanks to a resolute Anfield performance, meaning the Portuguese could make up ground on the Uruguayan.

Atletico Madrid won 1-0 at Valencia, but Diego Costa was not on target for Diego Simeone’s side. Lionel Messi’s winner for Barcelona at Villarreal sees him go level with the Spain striker.

Meanwhile, Luca Toni’s strike in Hellas Verona’s victory over Catania helped him equal Daniel Sturridge’s tally for the season, while Jackson Martinez and Yaya Toure are joint 10th thanks to goals for Porto and Manchester City respectively.

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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