Golden Shoe 2014-15: Top Goalscorers in Europe After Latest Football Fixtures

Just three goals separate Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi atop the 2015 Golden Shoe rankings after the latter netted during Barcelona's win over Catalan rivals Espanyol.

Ronaldo failed to score during Real Madrid's dramatic 4-2 win over Celta Vigo on Sunday night, but he remains one strike from an impressive 40 in La Liga:

Here's a look at the current top 10:

Position	Player	Club	Goals x Factor	Points
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	39 x 2	78
2	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	36 x 2	72
3	Antoine Griezmann	Atletico Madrid	22 x 2	44
4	Sergio Aguero	Manchester City	21 x 2	42
5	Jonatan Soriano	Red Bull Salzburg	27 x 1.5	40.5
6	Harry Kane	Tottenham	20 x 2	40
=7	Alexandre Lacazette	Lyon	26 x 1.5	39
=7	Eran Zahavi	Maccabi Tel-Aviv	26 x 1.5	39
=9	Alexander Meier	Eintracht Frankfurt	19 x 2	38
=9	Diego Costa	Chelsea	19 x 2	38
=9	Neymar	Barcelona	19 x 2	38

Each European League is assigned a difficulty number (between zero and two), which is then multiplied by the number of goals scored to produce a final total. For example, La Liga is considered among the most difficult leagues to net in, so Ronaldo's 39 goals are doubled to create his points tally of 78.

Griezmann, Aguero and Soriano Roll On

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Stars in the Spanish division are leading the way, as highlighted by Antoine Griezmann's ascension into third place. The Atletico Madrid forward has put together an emphatic run of form, scoring eight in his last five domestic matches to smash his way through the top 10, per WhoScored.com.

B/R UK highlighted the Frenchman's form since the turn of the year:

It's almost worth taking the Golden Shoe competition as a two-tiered event: one in which Ronaldo and Messi compete and the other in which mortals go head-to-head. Finishing third is an exceptional achievement in this era, so Griezmann's form cannot be understated. His goals continue to win Atletico points and perhaps outline him as the next big-name star the Vicente Calderon will (inevitably) say goodbye to.

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Atletico fans are likely to love and dread when one of their players produces headline-grabbing form. As seen over the years with Sergio Aguero and Diego Costa—both of whom remain in the top 10—a haul of goals for Atleti can often mean the financial juggernauts will come calling.

Aguero grabbed himself a fourth goal in three matches during Manchester City's last-gasp 3-2 win over Aston Villa. The Argentinian latched on to Brad Guzan's terrible clearance to steer the ball into an open goal. The Premier League's official Twitter account highlighted the significance of such a strike:

James Ducker of The Times provided comment on Guzan's error:

Tottenham's Harry Kane was unable to match Aguero with a goal in Spurs' 2-2 draw with Southampton, enabling Red Bull Salzburg's Jonathan Soriano to continue his climb up the rankings.

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Soriano has long been one of the continent's most underrated strikers, perhaps because he failed to make it into Barca's first team while at the Camp Nou. He was prolific for Barca B before moving to Austria in 2012 and notched his 27th goal of the season during Salzburg's 2-1 win over Ried on Saturday. The Spaniard now has eight goals in his last six appearances, per WhoScored.

Both Lyon's Alexandre Lacazette and Maccabi Tel-Aviv's Eran Zahavi scored to remain one goal behind Soriano in joint-seventh place. They have taken advantage of injuries to Costa and Eintracht Frankfurt's Alexander Meier—two players who were previously ranked third—to move up the table.

Lacazette's qualities can be seen below:

Elsewhere, Neymar's goal against Espanyol moves him into equal ninth alongside the two aforementioned stricken players. He has more than doubled last year's tally of nine and may be considered next in line to hit 30 La Liga goals in the future.

Europe's leagues are winding to a close, so any goals scored in the coming weeks could make a huge difference. Messi has just four matches to catch Ronaldo if he's to stop the Portuguese star grabbing his second successive Golden Shoe award (winning it on 31 goals alongside Luis Suarez last year).

It has been six years since anyone other than Ronaldo or Messi has solely claimed the prize, stretching back to Diego Forlan's time with Atletico. Although a Rojiblancos representative is pushing the pair furthest this season, only two remain in the hunt for the trophy.