Ranking the Top Goalscorers in 2017

Even though there are no awards available for the top scorer in a calendar year (the Golden Shoe is given on the basis of seasons) and as disparate as the forms of the teams may be between the latter half of one season and the first half of the next, this number still holds an intrinsic value.

Isn't it rather brilliant to say you've scored the most goals in 2017? Here then, are the five guys slugging it out for bragging rights as 2017 comes to a close.

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#5 Harry Kane

Harry Kane does what Harry Kane does best and there's not much Jack Butland can do about it

Goals: 50

Matches: 49

Minutes: 4138

Minutes per goal: 82.8

Harry Kane has been on fire in 2017, his career a study in the art of never-giving-up and despite continuing his completely ridiculous slump in August he smashed in 50 goals at better than a goal-a-game and is still in prime position to mount an unlikely challenge to the usual contenders at the top.

If nothing, these numbers prove... for the three of you who don't... it's time to take Harry Kane seriously.

Matches left: 3 (Manchester City away, Burnley away, Southampton away) He's the only one with more than two matches left this calendar year.

#4 Edinson Cavani

Edinson Cavani celebrates after scoring against Celtic in the Champions League

Goals: 52

Matches: 60

Minutes: 4971

Minutes per goal: 95.6

When people around the world talk about the best strikers on the planet, why does the conversation never veer to Edinson Cavani?

Yes, he might be playing in Ligue 1 - not the most defensively sound of footballing leagues on the planet - but the sheer numbers he puts up against all grades of opposition should in all reality be too much to ignore.

This year, as ever, he's crossed 50 goals and with relatively easier fixtures coming up it will be a hard task keeping him at bay when it comes to the final reckoning.

Matches left: 2 (Rennes away, Caen home)

#3 Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo celebrates after smashing a thunderbolt past the hapless Sevilla keeper Sergio Rico

Goals: 52

Matches: 58

Minutes: 5001

Minutes per goal: 96.2

The fact that Cristiano Ronaldo could barely find the back of the net during the beginning of the Liga season made him a subject of much ridicule, but look at the goddamn numbers the man has posted in 2017

52 goals in 58 matches - including crucial goals in the 2016-17 Champions League knockout rounds and in the European leg of the World Cup qualifiers and a record in the 2017-18 Group Stages (becoming the first person to score in every game of the Group Stages) - is a number that simply can't be argued with.

Matches: 2 (Gremio neutral, Barcelona home)

#2 Lionel Messi

Leo Messi takes Sporting's defenders on a merry dance

Goals: 53

Matches: 62

Minutes: 5381

Minutes per goal: 101.5

What a player, eh? Lionel Messi seems to be ageing with the grace of a fine Bordeaux wine and in 2017 he did what he always does - except this time he did it with almost no support from the men in blue-and-red... and the men in blue-and-white for that matter.

Having scored 53 goals this year, Messi has the chance to improve his tally with Depor at home... but it'll be a straight shoot-out at the Bernabeu between the two greatest players of all time when the twain meet at the Bernabeu.

Matches: 2 (Deportivo La Coruna home, Real Madrid away)

#1 Robert Lewandowski

Robert Lewandowski and his insane haircut celebrate another one of his goals

Goals: 53

Matches: 53

Minutes: 4517

Minutes per goal: 85.2

Well, I say straight shoot-out between the two but then I am doing an dishonour to the man leading the race (on the basis of having played fewer games than Leo Messi). Robert Lewandowski has been hammering in goals for both Bayern Munich and Poland, and the big Pole doesn't look like he's stopping anytime soon.

With the rather profligate defences of Stuttgart and Dortmund coming up, it'll take a brave man to bet against the Pole taking home the crown

Matches: 2 (Stuttgart away, Dortmund home)