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What's the story?
According to a report, Cristiano Ronaldo would be behind 16 players in the race for European Golden Shoe if penalties were not counted.
Ronaldo has converted from the spot 5 times this season which sees him out of the top 15, while Lionel Messi - who has scored 4 penalties in the present campaign - would just be ahead with Kylian Mbappe at the top of the charts.
In case you didn't know...
Barcelona captain Messi has been enjoying another sensational season both in the Spanish top flight and in Europe. The Argentine genius is the clear favourite to win his 6th Golden Shoe, having netted 31 goals in La Liga this season.
Messi is leading with 62 points, while Kylian Mbappe is second and has 52 points; Serie A top scorer Fabio Quagliarella is third with 42 points.
Messi has thus far racked up a staggering 41 goals this campaign, with eight of those coming in the Champions League. He is the only player to cross the 30-goal mark in any of Europe's top 5 leagues this season.
Mbappe occupies the second spot with 26 Ligue 1 goals in 23 appearances. But Ronaldo lags well behind with just 19 goals in the Serie A, having netted 24 times for Juventus in all competitions since his arrival to Italy from Real Madrid last summer.
The heart of the matter
Give Me Sport calculates the rankings by excluding the penalties taken by each of the players.
If penalties were to be excluded then Messi and Mbappe would be joint leaders with 50 points each, while Sadio Mane and Krzysztof Piatek would be joint at the second place with 34 points each.
Sergio Aguero and Zapata would follow with 32 points each, while Cristiano Ronaldo will find himself sharing the seventh spot with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mohamed Salah, Wissam Ben Yedder and Paco Alcacer, having 28 points each.
What's next?
As we are approaching the business end of the season, it remains to be seen how the top rank holders fare. It would be unlikely for Messi to lose his place at the top of the standings.
