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This season's Champions League is gradually drawing to a close, as we are halfway through the quarterfinals, with the last four just a week from being decided.
There have been exciting matches throughout the tourney, while upsets aplenty have also been recorded, with Ajax perhaps being the revelation of the season as they continue to forge on despite being unheralded at the start of the campaign.
Major heavyweights such as Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, and PSG have been knocked out, while the likes of Barcelona, Juventus, and Liverpool all live to fight another day.
At this stage, most attention is on which team will conquer in Madrid come June and rightly so, as the Champions League is the most prestigious club competition in the world.
However, beyond the thrill of knowing who would lift 'The Big Ears' at Atletico's magnificent Wanda Metropolitano, there is also the 'small' matter of the Champions League Golden Boot.
The award is given to any individual who outscored every other person in the season and has been won by some of the most legendary names in history including Raul, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Kaka, Andriy Shevchenko and of course the eternal pair of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
The Portuguese is the record winner of the award, having won it a total of seven times, with the last six coming consecutively. In this piece, we shall be having a rundown of the top five players who are still active in the competition and have a chance to win this season's Champions League Golden Boot.
#5 Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) - 5 goals
The Portuguese international is a perennial contender for anything named Golden Boot, and his appetite for goalscoring does not seem to have waned despite having turned 34 in February.
Ronaldo's stats are ridiculously good bordering on unbelievable, particularly in the Champions League.
With 125 goals, he is the tournament's all-time record goalscorer and would be looking to add to his tally of seven UCL Golden Boots come the end of the season.
Having started the season in rather poor terms, scoring just one goal from his first six matches in the group stage, Ronaldo has roared back in some style, netting a hat-trick in the last round to eliminate Atletico Madrid while he also added to his tally with a flying nodder against Ajax and would be looking at using the return leg to further increase his chances of winning an eighth consecutive UCL Golden Boot.
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#4 Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) - 5 goals
Sergio Aguero has been one of the most consistent strikers in Europe over the last decade, banging in goals for fun in the Premier League and helping Manchester City to a plethora of titles.
He has however been unable to translate this form onto the continent, as his goals in the Champions League fall some way off the incredible 0.7 goals per game ratio he has maintained in the Premier League.
This season, the Argentine international would set about rectifying that, as he is the chief goal threat in the club's unheralded quest for a quadruple.
Having scored two goals from four matches in the group stage, Aguero starred with three goals in the 10-2 aggregate demolition of Schalke 04 in the last round but squandered a perfect opportunity to add to his tally when he missed from 12 yards in the 1-0 defeat to Tottenham.
The 30-year-old would get another shot at redemption in a week's time when City host Spurs in the second leg at The Etihad.
#3 Moussa Marega (FC Porto) - 6 goals
Moussa Marega wrote his name into the Champions League record books in March when he scored the second goal of Porto's 3-1 extra time win over AS Roma in the round-of-16.
This marked the sixth consecutive game that the Malian international had scored in, dating back to matchday 2 in the clash with Galatasaray.
The 27-year-old went on to score a goal in consecutive matches against Lokomotiv Moscow (home and away), Schalke 04, Galatasaray and the aforementioned Roma match(although he missed the first leg against Roma due to injury).
He thereby entered the record books as the sixth man to score in six consecutive Champions League matches, joining Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Burak Yilmaz, Edinson Cavani, Marouane Chamakh, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The run, unfortunately, came to an end in the 2-0 loss to Liverpool, but that takes nothing away from the spectacular season the Malian international has had.
Surprisingly, he has failed to reach the same heights in other competitions, as he has scored just seven goals from 23 Portuguese Primeira Liga matches.
#2 Dusan Tadic (Ajax) - 6 goals
Dusan Tadic has been the major driving force behind Ajax's improbable run to the quarterfinals of the Champions League this season.
The Eredivisie giants have won many admirers with their attractive free-flowing style of play, and at the top leading their attack and finishing their exuberant moves has been Dusan Tadic.
The 30-year-old former Southampton man is the most experienced player amidst a bunch of young unproven players, and his experience has come to the fore as Ajax continues their quest for an, unlike Champions League win.
His exploits started way back in July as he helped guide Ajax through the arduous journey of the Champions League qualifiers, starring with three goals from six matches to book their spot among the last 32.
In the tournament proper, the Serbian international did not get going until equalizing on matchday 4 in a 1-1 draw with Benfica but has not looked back since then, scoring five goals in his next four matches to book Ajax's spot in the quarterfinals for the first time in 23 years.
#1 Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - 8 goals
Lionel Messi has played like a man possessed this season and currently leads the way for goals scored in the league as well as the Champions League.
The Champions League Golden Boot had once been the exclusive property of the Argentine international having won it four times in a row between 2009 and 2012. But these days, Messi has had to take a backseat as Ronaldo has taken the driving seat in the Champions League.
He started the season with a bang, netting a hattrick on the opening day in a 4-0 defeat of PSV before going on to add a further three in the group stage for a total of six from just four matches.
Messi was also the star of the show in the last round against Lyon, putting the Ligue 1 side to the sword with a brace of assists and goals to put Barcelona through to the quarterfinal for the 12th consecutive season.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner drew a blank in the first leg clash with Manchester United to extend his scoreless streak in the last eight to 11 consecutive matches but would have another go when hostilities resume in Nou Camp next week.
