Who is leading the race for the Golden Shoe?

Luis Suarez became the first player in Europe's top five leagues to hit the 30-goal mark with his strike in Barcelona's 3-1 Copa del Rey win over Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday night.

However, the former Liverpool ace is only currently third in the running for the Golden Shoe, awarded to the leading marksman across Europe.

That's because the award focuses on league goals - and Suarez has 'only' found the net 18 times for Barcelona in La Liga so far this term.

So Suarez, who shared the prize with Cristiano Ronaldo in 2013/14 after scoring 31 times in the Premier League for Liverpool, trails leader Gonzalo Higuain of Napoli, who has 21.

Suarez is also behind Benfica striker Jonas, who has scored 19 times in Portugal's top flight.

However, the race for the Golden Shoe isn't as straightforward as it seems. As well as goals, the strength of the league you're playing in is also a factor.

How does it work?

There are two factors that come into play when deciding who will receive the Golden Shoe - goals and the UEFA coefficient ranking.

The goals speak for themselves - you have to score quite a few and penalties count - but the league rankings are slightly trickier.

Essentially, each player's goal tally is multiplied by the ranking of the league they score in.  

The toughest leagues are given the highest rating of 2.0, the next are assigned a 1.5 rating and the final leagues are given 1.0.

In practice, that means Suarez's 18 league goals for Barcelona equate to 36 points but the 22 scored by Shakhtar Donetsk striker Alex Teixeira in the 1.5-rated Ukraine top flight are only worth 33 points.

The coefficient weighting was introduced during the 1996/97 season, and has seen a league with a 2.0 ranking winning the Golden Shoe in all but one season since. Henrik Larsson was the exception, winning the accolade during his 35-goal season for Celtic, with the Scottish Premiership having a 1.5 ranking at the time.

So far this season, all the players in the top six are from a top five-ranked side, with just nine of the top 30 coming from outside these leagues.

Who is leading the race?

Where are the Premier League players?

Jamie Vardy is joint-10th with a points tally of 32.0, while his Leicester team-mate Riyad Mahrez rounds out the top 20 with his 13 league goals so far this season giving him with a total of 26.0.

Romelu Lukaku (30.0) and Odion Ighalo (28.0) also feature, with Harry Kane in 22nd place - level on points with former Spurs man Gareth Bale - on 26.0.

What about Messi?

Believe it or not, three-time Golden Shoe winner Lionel Messi is yet to break the top 30. He currently has 11 La Liga goals and 22 points.