European Golden Shoe: Lionel Messi continues to enjoy his dominance as the top scorer across Europe; Cristiano Ronaldo crashes out of the top 10

What's the story?

FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi had a rare outing in the LaLiga without finding the back of the net in the club's latest fixture, but, with 33 goals to his name as of April 22, he remains the sharpest shooter in Europe at the moment.

PSG's Kylian Mbappe became the second player across the top-five leagues to breach the 30-goal mark and now trails the Argentinean wizard by three goals.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who created history by lifting the Serie A title with Juventus on Saturday, lost his place among the top 10 of Europe's top-scorers, as he failed to register a goal in the match, though he did provide an assist in the game.

In case you didn't know...

Messi is the only player to win the award five times, all with his current club Barcelona. he holds the all-time record for most goals in a single season, having scored an astonishing 50 goals in the Spanish top-flight in the 2011-12 season.

Ronaldo, is one of the only four players who have won the accolade with two different clubs, having bagged the honor in 2008 with Manchester United and subsequently with Real Madrid in 2011, 2014 and 2015.

30 - Lionel Messi has scored 30+ goals in each of his last 11 seasons for @FCBarcelona in all competitions. Extraterrestrial. pic.twitter.com/abyokCMS2V

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) February 16, 2019

The heart of the matter...

As we head towards the culmination of yet another exciting season of European football, it is time for us to keep a close eye on the European Golden Shoe rankings, as things are bound to heat up with strikers giving their all in this final leg of the race to stake claim for the top scorer's spot.

As of April 22, there's no changes in the top half of the leader-board with Messi leading the way in the standings, with his goal-scoring exploits helping him find the back of the net 33 times in the LaLiga this season, earning 66 points so far.

French Sensation Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick in PSG's title winning match, to reach 30 goals in the Ligue 1 and as it has been for much of the season, he continues to keep five-time Ballon d'Or winner on his toes with just six points separating the prolific strikers.

Surprisingly, Ronaldo is now out of the top 10 of the rankings, thanks to a brilliant hat-trick by former teammate Karim Benzema, who took the seventh spot on the list to push the former even further down the list, who now only has 38 points to his name.

What's next?

Lionel Messi has been in red-hot form this season and thus he remains a favorite to defend his title from last season.

With Messi establishing a 14 goal lead over Ronaldo, it seems that the 34-year-old will have to wait for yet another season to become the first player ever to win the award with three different clubs.