Ibrahimović and Grafite enter goalscoring fray
Monday, March 16, 2009
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ESM Golden shoe: Diego Forlán moved up to third in the race to become Europe's top goalscorer, while Zlatan Ibrahimović and VfL Wolfsburg's Grafite have surged on to the leaderboard after prolific weekend displays.
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With both FC Salzburg's Marc Janko and FC Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o failing to find the target at the weekend, there was no big movement at the top of the ESM Golden Shoe leaderboard, but some top strikers are jostling for recognition a little lower down the rankings.
Jostling for attention
Club Atlético de Madrid were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League last week, but vented their frustration with a 3-2 win against Villarreal CF, Uruguayan Diego Forlán among the scorers against his old club. The 29-year-old now has 19 goals this term, and has joined Valencia CF's David Villa and Bologna FC's Marco Di Vaio in third place in the rankings. Meanwhile, there is a four-way tie for eighth, with Zlatan Ibrahimović roaring into contention with both goals in FC Internazionale Milano's 2-0 win against ACF Fiorentina. Grafite, meanwhile, scored a hat-trick in VfL Wolfsburg's 4-3 victory at home to FC Schalke 04 to join Ibrahimović, Patrick Helmes and André-Pierre Gignac on 34 points.
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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