Top Contenders for European Golden Shoe: March 2019
The European Golden Shoe race is still on, and as we begin the month of March, the race has gotten closer than ever. In the last month, a lot has happened in Europe’s top five leagues in terms of goal-scoring.
While some players managed add to their goal tallies, others endured frustrating mini-droughts. As a result, there have been some changes with regards to the top contenders for the European Golden Shoe award.
As usual, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are still in contention, but there are also a couple of new faces behind the superstar pair. A third force, though, is Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe, who is piling the pressure on the Barcelona and Juventus attackers.
So, let’s take a look at how the race for the 2018/2019 European Golden Shoe award looks like as we begin the month of March:
Also See: Serie A News | La Liga News | La Liga Table
(NB: This ranking is based on goals scored by players in ONLY Europe’s top five leagues and, should players have the same number of goals, their assists will be used to decide who stays on top)
#10 Luis Suarez (16 goals – 32 points)
Barcelona striker Luis Suarez has dropped to the 10th position in the race for this season’s European Golden Shoe award. The Uruguayan forward has not had a great start to the year, but still managed to score a few goals in the month on February.
The former Liverpool man boasts 16 goals this season, putting him on 32 points for the Golden Shoe index. Suarez slightly edges Atalanta’s Duvan Zapata and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the 10th position.
Although all three strikers have 16 league goals, Suarez boasts five assists to Zapata and Aubameyang’s four each.
#9 Nicolas Pepe (16 goals – 32 points)
One of the surprise entries in this year’s European Golden Shoe race is Nicolas Pepe. The Lille forward has been in superb form this season, attracting interest from some of Europe’s elite clubs.
Pepe comes in 9th with 16 goals, which also constitutes 32 points. It is a return which puts him third on the scoring charts in the French Ligue 1 – ahead of Neymar and only behind Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe.
The Lille forward also has eight assists to his name, despite often operating from wide areas for his club.