Monday 8 May 2017 15:56, UK
Lionel Messi's double against Villarreal at the weekend has seen the Barcelona star close in on the European Golden Shoe.
The Argentine forward has now struck 35 times in La Liga, four clear of his nearest contender Bas Dost - who has netted 31 for Sporting Lisbon in the Portuguese top flight.
Should Messi stay clear of Dost, he will secure the Golden Shoe award for the fourth time - having also won it in 2009/10, 2011/12 and 2012/13 - and would move level with Cristiano Ronaldo as the player to have won it on the most occasions.
The Golden Shoe is calculated based on a points system that is weighted towards stronger leagues, which are determined by the UEFA coefficient rankings.
Players in the current top five leagues - La Liga, the Premier League, the Bundesliga, Serie A and the Primeira Liga - see their goals tally multiplied by a factor of two, while leagues ranked six to 21 are by a factor of 1.5.
That is why Edinson Cavani, who plays for PSG in Ligue 1, is not in contention despite netting 33 times so far this season.
Ronaldo won it for the first time in 2007/08 with Manchester United, and has since won it three more times since moving to Real Madrid (in 2010/11, 2013/14 and 2014/15). He is not, however, in contention this year as he has struck just 20 league goals.
The award has been won by a La Liga player every year since Diego Forlan won it for Atletico in 2008/09, although Luis Suarez shared the prize for the Premier League with Ronaldo in 2013/14 during his final season at Liverpool.
Henrik Larsson was the last player to win the Golden Shoe from outside the top five leagues, when his 35 goals for Celtic in 2000/01 saw him top the rankings with 52.5 points.
