Golden Shoe 2015-16: Top Goalscorers in Europe, Latest Points Standings on May 2

Barcelona’s Luis Suarez remains on course to clinch the coveted European Golden Shoe award, as he netted his 35th league goal of the season on Saturday. 

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t feature for his side due to injury and was therefore unable to close the gap at the summit. Jonas remains alongside Ronaldo on 31 goals, as he failed to find the back of the net in Benfica’s 1-0 win over Vitoria Guimaraes.

After another weekend of tremendous goalscoring on the continent, here is how the standings are shaping up in the race for this gong and a closer look at how some of the main contenders fared in their respective matches.

Position	Player	Team	Goals x Factor	Overall
1	Luis Suarez	Barcelona	35 x 2.0	70.0
T2	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	31 x 2.0	62.0
T2	Jonas	Benfica	31 x 2.0	62.0
4	Gonzalo Higuain	Napoli	30 x 2.0	60.0
5	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	27 x 2.0	54.0
6	Islam Slimani	Sporting CP	26 x 2.0	52.0
7	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	PSG	34 x 1.5	51.0
T8	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	25 x 2.0	50.0
T8	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Borussia Dortmund	25 x 2.0	50.0
10	Harry Kane	Tottenham Hotspur	24 x 2.0	48.0

Rules: Every league in Europe is rated on its difficulty by UEFA and attributed a constant between one and two.

With a rating of two, goals scored in La Liga and the Premier League are doubled to achieve a player's points tally, whereas in Ligue 1, they are only multiplied by 1.5.

Red-Hot Suarez Scores Again

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

All eyes were on Suarez, as Barcelona headed to Real Betis on Saturday evening after the Uruguay forward netted eight goals in his previous two games. After missing a hatful of chances on the night, the Blaugrana man eventually got his name on the scoresheet late on.

It was a strike that effectively ended the contest, cementing a vital win for Barcelona and a spot at the top of the table again. Wins for both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid earlier in the day had relegated them to third temporarily.

Suarez has been vital to Barca pulling themselves out of the slump that allowed the capital clubs back into the title picture. Sky Sports Statto summed up just how much of a threat he has been in the final third this season:

Also involved in that clash was Lionel Messi. The Argentina man may not have enjoyed his finest season in front of goal, although he was pivotal in playing Suarez through to get his. Fiebre Cule provided us with a wonderful angle of what was a magnificent pass:

The absence of Ronaldo for Real and a goalless day for Jonas means the former Liverpool man remains four clear in the pursuit of this award. But there was still some tremendous goalscoring elsewhere on the continent from players in the top 10.

In a massive clash in Portugal between Porto and Sporting Club, Islam Slimani netted a brace for the former to keep them in touch with Benfica at the top. Sporting won 3-1, and as we can see, the striker, who now has 26 for the campaign, loves this opponent, per Sport Witness’ Jan Hagen:

If Ligue 1 was considered competitive enough to warrant a constant of two, Paris Saint-Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic would be giving Suarez some stiff competition for the accolade. He netted two more goals in the 4-0 win over Rennes and, as we can see here, was pulling out the party tricks:

While he missed that chance, with numbers like these for the season, PSG fans will probably forgive Ibrahimovic for trying to show off, per Squawka Football:

Of the two Bundesliga representatives in the top 10, it was Borussia Dortmund’s Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang who enjoyed the better weekend, as he emerged from the bench to add the gloss to his side’s emphatic win over Wolfsburg.

The 26-year-old entered the game in the 69th minute with the score 3-0 in favour of Thomas Tuchel’s team; within nine minutes, the Gabon forward had notched a brace on the way to a 5-1 win. As reported by Squawka, he’s the first BVB player to score 25 league goals in a season since Manfred Burgsmuller in 1980-81.

VI-Images/Getty Images

With just a few games remaining in the majority of European leagues, time is running out for elite forwards from across the continent to catch Suarez.

The Barcelona man is in a battle to secure the league title for his side, too, meaning there will be no let up from him between now and the end of the campaign. With silverware in sight, expect the 29-year-old to preserve the impeccable standards he’s showcased as of late and add this individual accolade to the La Liga title.