The fight for Europe's Golden Boot heats up
Mohamed Salah's four-goal haul against Watford has propelled him to the top of the leaderboard, three ahead of Lionel Messi who also found the back of the net at the weekend.
With Harry Kane and Neymar sidelined with their respective injuries, it seems that the Golden Boot will be between four or five players. The new leader is Liverpool's Salah, who hit four goals past Watford on Saturday to put a cushion between himself and the chasing pack.
Messi also enjoyed some success at the weekend, finding the back of the net against Athletic Bilbao to keep in reach of his Egyptian rival.
However, not to be outbeaten, Cristiano Ronaldo also brought home a four-goal haul, in Real Madrid's nine-goal exhilarating victory over Girona, to bring his tally to 22 and will be an outside bet to take Europe's goalscoring crown.
Kane and Neymar still occupy top positions in the leaderboard, but little by little they will fall as they continue to recover from their injury woes, having to watch from the sidelines whilst their rivals battle it out across the continent.
Luis Suarez has also dropped out of the top 10, along with Radamel Falcao, after missing the game against Bilbao through suspension.
Europe's Golden Boot (18-03-2018)
1.- Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, England) - 28 goals, 56 points. 2.- Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Spain) - 25 goals, 50 points. 3.- Ciro Immobile (Lazio, Italy) - 24 goals, 48 points. 4.- Edinson Cavani (PSG, France) - 24 goals, 48 points. 5.- Harry Kane (Tottenham, England) - 24 goals, 48 points. 6.- Jonas (Benfica, Portugal) - 31 goals, 46.5 points. 7.- Robert Lewandowski (Bayern, Germany) - 23 goals, 46 points. 8.- Cristiano Ronaldo (Madrid, Spain) - 22 goals, 43 points. 9.- Mauro Icardi (Inter, Italy) - 22 goals, 44 points. 10.- Sergio Agüero (Manchester City, England) - 21 goals, 42 points.
It must be remembered that for the Golden Boot, only the goals scored in the League count, and those marked in the Champions or in the cupper tournaments are not included.
To calculate the points, 'European Sports Media' awards a multiplier to each competition based on its position in the UEFA ranking. Thus, the five major leagues (Spain, France, Germany, England and Italy) multiply by two goals, and the less important leagues, such as the Portuguese, Dutch or Turkish leagues, to give three examples, multiply by 1.5. Minor leagues do not have a multiplication factor.
If two players finish with the same amount of points, the first tiebreaker criteria will be the least number of minutes played in their respective league championships.