Rooney: red hot form

The Golden Shoe and Espadrille are fast becoming two of the most prestigious awards in the game, with past winners including Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Jermaine Beckford.

The fact is we all love goals and those who know how to find the back of the net, but who is really the best at it?

Is it the player who scores the most, or the striker that always seems to pop up and score in the important matches?

Well here at Soccer AM we think the players with the best goals-to-games ratio should be recognised, which is why every week for the remainder of the season we will be revealing who, in our opinion, are the best strikers in Europe with a bit of help from our friends at Opta.

The Golden Shoe takes into account all the players in the top four tiers of the English game as well as the Scottish Premier League for the first time, while The Espadrille will be focusing on the top forwards from Italy's Serie A, Spain's Primera Division, the SPL and of course our very own Premier League.

To qualify, players must have played in at least half of their side's matches this season and only league goals count.

The Golden Shoe

It's all change in the race for the Golden Shoe as Kris Boyd's three week reign at the top of the table came to an emphatic end.

Wayne Rooney, Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres showed why collectively they have a market value of over a £150 million, with a brace each at the weekend.

While in league Two, Lee Hughes, kept Notts County's automatic promotion hopes alive with a double in their 2-2 draw with rivals Bournemouth.

Rooney's stunning form this season has led many to speculate that he will be cleaning up when the individual awards are handed out at the end of the season, and as things stand he will have to clear even more room on his mantelpiece.

Not for the first time this season, the England and Manchester United goal machine tops the table after terrorising the Fulham defence at Old Trafford on Sunday, with Drogba and Boyd marginally behind.

Hughes and Torres complete the top five, while down at the bottom it's all change once again.

Goals for Charlie Austin and Grant Holt mean the League 1 duo regain their places amongst the country's elite strikers. As does Jermain Defoe, who swaps places with Darren Bent.

*Accurate as of 17/03/2010

The Golden Espadrille

We're fast running out of superlatives to describe the football genius that is Lionel Messi.

The Argentinean wizard conjured up a spectacular second-half hat-trick in Barcelona's 3-0 victory over Valencia as he took centre stage.

The winger beat three players to give Barca the lead after 56 minutes, before adding two more fine efforts in the closing stages to take his goals-to-games ratio to an incredible 0.96.

Hot on his heels is fellow countryman and La Liga title rival Gonzalo Higuain.

The Real Madrid striker was blamed for his side's Champions League exit at the hands of Lyon last week, but bounced back in style with three goals of his own in Real's 4-1 over Valladolid.

With Messi, Higuain, Ronaldo Drogba, and Torres all on target this week, the big loser was Kris Boyd.

The Rangers hotshot's goals this season have powered his side to the top of the SPL, but his failure to score in his last three league outings means he drops five places to sixth.

*Accurate as of 17/03/2010