Eto'o makes haste in Golden Shoe race

FC Salzburg striker Marc Janko's place atop the ESM Golden Shoe standings looks increasingly at risk after two weekend strikes from Samuel Eto'o moved the FC Barcelona man to within three points of his lead.

Barça milestone
Eto'o has not gone four games without a goal all season and, going into Sunday's fixture against Real Sporting de Gijón having failed to register in his last three outings, he quickly ensured that record stayed intact. Midway through the first half he notched up Barcelona's 100th goal of the season in all competitions and before half-time he had added a second, his 21st Liga strike of the season, as the Catalan giants cantered to a 3-1 win. Those 21 goals translate into 42 points, leaving the Cameroonian international just three points behind Janko, with Salzburg's Austrian Bundesliga campaign not reconvening after the winter break until 22 February.

Forlán progress 
Indeed, besides Eto'o, none of the other players that began the week in the top ten registered, allowing four players to join Nicolas Anelka and Diego Milito in tenth: Zlatan Ibrahimović, Alberto Gilardino, youngster André-Pierre Gignac and the joint Golden Shoe winner in 2004/05, Diego Forlán.

Only the leading five countries (Spain, Italy, Germany, France and England) on the UEFA Ranking have two as their multiplier. This is to emphasise the difference in (international) performance level between the clubs from those countries and those from the other nations.

A player cannot first play in a summer league (eg Norway) and then in a winter league (eg Spain) and combine the points total for each season.

Figures from Voetbal International