Mohamed Salah’s once comfortable lead at the top of the European scoring charts is steadily shrinking. Robert Lewandowski is breathing down the Liverpool forward’s neck in the race for the Golden Shoe.
Last weekend, the FA Cup quarter-finals were played in England. Mohamed Salah of Liverpool FC was unable to increase his goal tally of 27 so far and had to watch idly as his top position in the ESM ranking is slowly coming under threat. Robert Lewandowski is preparing to challenge the Egyptian for first place. First, the former Bayern marksman scored the 3-0 in the postponed game against CA Osasuna, then he was the match winner against FC Girona with a brace in the 4-1 win. The FC Barcelona striker now has 25 goals (50 points) and is getting closer to winning the Golden Shoe for the third time after 2020/21 and 2021/22.
Salah’s former closest rival, Mateo Retegui (22 goals), suffered his second defeat in a row with Atalanta, the 1-0 loss at Fiorentina was a bitter setback in the title race. Even the Italian international striker could not prevent this, and he is now only in fourth place in the Golden Shoe race. Viktor Gyökeres is back on the podium. The Sporting Lisbon striker scored twice from the penalty spot as his team won 3-0 at Estrela Amadora and now has 30 goals (45 points). The Swede’s goals are only multiplied by 1.5 in the ranking because he does not play in a top-five league.
Kane remains fourth – Mbappé closes in
Györkeres has also overtaken Harry Kane, who remains in 4th place. The Englishman scored Bayern’s first goal in their 3-2 win over St. Pauli and has now scored 22 goals, just like Retegui. Kylian Mbappé has now also scored 22 goals. The French star striker scored in each of his third consecutive matches and, just as in Real’s 2-1 win at Villarreal, scored twice in the 3-2 win over CD Leganes.
Moise Kean is on a roll. The Italian, who scored twice in the spectacular 3-3 draw against the DFB team, was the match winner for AC Florence against Bergamo and has entered the top 15. Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick also remains there. Although he went empty-handed against Bochum (3:1), his 17 goals put him in 13th place in the overall ranking and second behind Kane in the Bundesliga internal list.
