Soccer AM

Ronaldo: at the double

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 bringing you the Golden Shoe and Golden Espadrille on the website.

The Golden Shoe takes into account all the players in the top four tiers of the English game while The Espadrille will be focusing on the top forwards from Italy's Serie A, Spain's Primera Division 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

If you could have bet on the outcome of this season's Golden Shoe the chances are the bookies would have paid out weeks ago because Cristiano Ronaldo has been simply unstoppable.

The Manchester United winger helped himself to another two goals against West Ham at the weekend, taking his league tally to an incredible 30 goals in just 33 games this season.

And with just one Premier League game left until the end of the season it is safe to say that this years Golden Shoe will be heading to Old Trafford.

Ronaldo's closest challenger for much of the season has come in the form of Liverpool's own superstar, Fernando Torres.

The Spain striker was also on the score sheet this weekend - bagging the winner in the Reds' 1-0 victory over Manchester City - as his sensational debut season continued.

But El Nino will have to score at least SIX times against Tottenham on Sunday if he is to have any hope of winning a trophy which already has Ronaldo's name on it.

Jack Lester was the only other player on the mark this week. His goal earned Chesterfield a point against Nott's County in their final game of the season and moves him up to third ahead of Emmanuel Adebayor, who failed to score.

*Accurate as of 06/05/08

The Golden Espadrille

While the Golden Shoe appears to be a foregone conclusion, there is still life in the Golden Espadrille, despite second placed Luis Fabiano failing to find the net for the fourth game in a row.

It means that Cristiano Ronaldo is in pole position to complete a clean sweep of both awards this season, but with two La Liga games left to play Fabiano will still feel that this race is far from over.

The same cannot be said for La Liga, which is very much done and dusted after Real Madrid came from behind to beat Osasuna 2-1.

Despite being a man and a goal down, Real rallied to score two goals in the last three minutes to clinch their second successive league title in dramatic style.

Elsewhere in Spain, Daniel Guiza continued his impressive goal scoring form with a brace in Real Mallorca's 2-1 win over Athletic Bilbao. Guiza has now hit the back of the net nine times in just six matches.

Meanwhile in Italy, AC Milan's 2-1 victory over rivals Inter has blown the race for the Scudetto wide open. League leaders Inter are now just three points clear of second placed Roma with two games left.

Milan's Brazilian star Kaka was once again amongst the goals, but he remains outside the top ten after losing his place last week.

*Accurate as of 06/05/08