Golden Shoe 2014-15: Top Goalscorers in Europe, Latest Table and Points

Cristiano Ronaldo capped off a stunning season of goalscoring with a hat-trick in Real Madrid’s 7-3 victory over Getafe on the final day of the Primera Liga season.

This treble, the 30-year-old’s third in his last six games, means the Portuguese superstar finishes 10 points ahead of Lionel Messi in the race for the 2014/15 Golden Shoe. The Barcelona man bagged a brace against Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday before the Blaugrana lifted the Spanish title.

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero clinched third place, netting during his team's final-day victory against Southampton.

Here’s how the standings finished up:

Position	Player	Club	Goals x Factor	Points
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	48 x 2	96
2	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	43 x 2	86
3	Sergio Aguero	Manchester City	26 x 2	52
4	Jonatan Soriano	Red Bull Salzburg	30 x 1.5	45
=5	Antoine Griezmann	Atletico Madrid	22 x 2	44
=5	Neymar	Barcelona	22 x 2	44
7	Jackson Martinez	Porto	21 x 2	42
=7	Harry Kane	Tottenham Hotspur	21 x 2	42
=7	Eran Zahavi	Maccabi Tel Aviv	28 x 1.5	42
10	Alexandre Lacazette	Olympique Lyonnais	27 x 1.5	40.5

The standings are calculated via a simple formula. Each European division is given a difficulty rating of between one and two, which is then used to multiply each player's number of goals to provide a total. As such, one goal for Ronaldo in La Liga is worth more than one goal for Eran Zahavi in the Israeli Premier League.

Ronaldo Signs Season off In Style

Daniel Ochoa de Olza/Associated Press

While this season has been one of undeniable disappointment for Real Madrid, with a staggering 48 goals scored in 35 Liga starts, it’d be tough to say it has been anything other than extraordinary for Ronaldo.

Here’s a look at this latest hat-trick for Los Blancos, which came in the space of 21 first-half minutes:

The goals mean Ronaldo secured the Pichichi Trophy, awarded to La Liga's top goalscorer, and the former Manchester United man ended the season with 61 goals in all competitions. But aside from early-season triumphs in the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup, he has no silverware to show for his sensational exploits in front of goal.

Stu Forster/Getty Images

As noted by Scott from the Republik of Mancunia blog, the strides Ronaldo has made in recent years have been phenomenal, but he probably should have won more during his time at the Santiago Bernabeu:

The same can’t be said for Messi, who celebrated another league title with Barcelona. While the genial Argentinian hasn’t been quite as prolific as his longstanding rival this season, he’s been at the heart of the Blaugrana’s stunning form in 2015.

David Ramos/Getty Images

As we can see here, courtesy of barcastuff, the Barcelona icon was able to enjoy some precious moments with his young son during the title celebrations:

"

Gif: Messi's son Thiago scores during title celebrations yesterday #fcblive [via @emenderk] pic.twitter.com/mV0LLAFo5K

— barcastuff (@barcastuff) May 24, 2015"

There’s still plenty to focus on for Messi, however, with a treble tantalisingly close. After sampling the league title, Barcelona will now look forward to the Copa del Rey and Champions League finals in successive weekends, in which they will play Athletic Club and Juventus respectively. Winning both of those would make it a remarkable end to the season for Messi.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

The end of the league season is always an ideal opportunity to reflect on just how good both Messi and Ronaldo are. As Daniel Storey of Football365 notes, the pair score with such unerring regularity it’s easy to take their stunning exploits for granted:

Especially when you consider that the player who got closest to them was Aguero, and he was a staggering 22 goals behind Ronaldo.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

However, as noted by EPL Stat Man, the Argentina star did miss some matches with injury, making his haul of 26 goals extremely impressive:

Harry Kane isn’t a name many would have expected to have seen in the top 10 of this list before the season began, but he bagged his 21st league goal of the season for Tottenham Hotspur in a 1-0 victory at Everton. The England man is the Premier League’s only other representative in the upper echelons of the rankings.

He’s already looking forward to next season:

The top 10 is also home to plenty of other world-class talents in the making. Neymar finished up in fifth place after a brilliant second season with Barca. Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann joins the Brazilian on 44 points after he netted 22 goals in his debut campaign for the deposed Spanish champions.

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette clung onto his place in the top 10. Although Hubert Fournier’s men were unable to cling to preserve top spot in Ligue 1, this was a brilliant campaign for them, spearheaded by the effervescent Lacazette. It’ll be intriguing to see if they can resist the inevitable interest in their No. 10 from illustrious clubs in the transfer window.

All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com.