Golden Shoe 2015-16: Top Goalscorers in Europe, Latest December Standings

A goal-shy weekend from Europe's big guns saw Shakhtar Donetsk's Alex Teixeira claw within a point of the summit in the race for this season's European Golden Shoe.

The slim lead still belongs to Borussia Dortmund hitman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but the Black and Yellows star will be eager to get back to scoring ways after failing to net in just his third Bundesliga match of the campaign.

Napoli maestro Gonzalo Higuain is also back in the hunt for Europe's top-scorer award, and a brace against Bologna has drawn him level on points with Barcelona's Neymar, who failed to score against Valencia on Saturday.

Less than nine points separate the top 10 in the hunt to be crowned Europe's most prolific scorer for 2015-16, and we break down the latest developments surrounding the continent's top scorers this weekend.

Position	Player	Team	Goals x Factor	Points
1.	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Borussia Dortmund	17 x 2	34.0
2.	Alex Teixeira	Shakhtar Donetsk	22 x 1.5	33.0
3.	Nemanja Nikolic	Legia Warsaw	20 x 1.5	30.0
4.	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	14 x 2	28.0
5.	Gonzalo Higuain	Napoli	14 x 2	28.0
6.	Tomas Radzinevicius	Suduva	28 x 1	28.0
7.	Jamie Vardy	Leicester City	14 x 2	28.0
8.	Neymar	Barcelona	14 x 2	28.0
9.	Thomas Muller	Bayern Munich	13 x 2	26.0
10.	Luis Suarez	Barcelona	13 x 2	26.0

Rules: Each division is attributed a difficulty constant (between one and two), which is then multiplied by the number of goals scored to produce a total. 

For example, La Liga is considered among the most difficult leagues to net in, so Neymar's 14 goals are doubled to create his points tally of 28. By contrast, the Lithuanian top flight has a constant of one, meaning Tomas Radzinevicius’s 28 goals equate to 28 points.

Top Brass Stutter in Golden Shoe Race

Oliver Hardt/Getty Images

European football was turned on its head this weekend as some of the mightiest outfits from across the continent faltered, including Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and more.

Borussia Dortmund were among the top teams that did manage to keep their cool, and they claimed a 2-1 win at Wolfsburg, but Aubameyang couldn't extend his Golden Shoe lead as Marco Reus and Shinji Kagawa took over. However, according to WhoScored.com, the Gabon international still boasts a stellar touch-per-goal average:

If the Ukrainian Premier League had a difficulty factor identical to that of the Bundesliga and Europe's other top divisions, Teixeira's strike against Karpaty would have seen him draw level at the Golden Shoe summit.

The attacking midfielder at least had extra reason to celebrate in that clash, however, after being named his club's best player for the month of November having netted in his last 10 consecutive league matches:

Teixeira's achievements are all that more impressive when one considers he doesn't play in the conventional striker role, as opposed to the majority of European Golden Shoe contenders.

The BBC's John Bennett indicated what an oddity this weekend's action was in that numerous top finishers failed to hit the target:

Neymar's 14 goals mean he still tops the La Liga scoreboards, four ahead of Real Madrid superstar Ronaldo and a single strike in front of Barca team-mate Luis Suarez, who moved into the top 10 after scoring at Valencia.

Ronaldo spoke to World Soccer magazine after claiming the Golden Shoe for 2014-15 and admitted there are many threats to his title (h/t Spanish daily Sport):

"

There are many great forwards throughout many European leagues. In the English league, German… Rooney, Aguero, Lewandowski, Neymar. Benzema is also in good form. Luis Suarez again. There are many great players – but I want to keep winning it, though. We’ll see what happens throughout this year.

"

One of the biggest movers in this week's rankings was Napoli ace Gonzalo Higuain, who despite seeing his side lose 3-2 at Bologna, bagged a brace to move into the Golden Shoe top 10 with his 13th and 14th strikes of the season.

Higuain scored in the 87th and 90th minutes, but he was unable to earn the Azzurri a point after seeing Napoli's hosts ghost into a 3-0 lead earlier in the match:

The Argentina international is the only Serie A star figuring among the Golden Shoe candidates at present, and Squawka recently outlined his prolific record since moving to Naples from Real Madrid:

Any hopes Suduva minnow Tomas Radzinevicius might have had to claim the award ended along with Lithuania's 2015 A Lyga campaign at the end of November, but a host of underdogs are still in with a chance.

In particular, Legia Warsaw striker Nemanja Nikolic netted three in the space of four days this past week—a brace in the 2-1 win over Gornik Leczna and one goal in the 2-0 win over Wisla Krakow—to break the 30-point mark.

There's still much of the 2015-16 campaign left to run and players from all corners of the continent can expect to advance their Golden Shoe bids before the awards are handed out next year.

Names both big and small are still in the running to be crowned Europe's best goalscorer, and next week's action will see a raft of stars hoping to bounce back from lacklustre outings.