Mourinho speechless after Ronaldo masterclass
Monday, January 10, 2011
Article summary
Cristiano Ronaldo cemented his position as European football's in-form goalscorer after a hat-trick against high-flying Villarreal CF that left even Real Madrid CF coach José Mourinho lost for words.
Article top media content
Article body
Cristiano Ronaldo stretched his lead at the top of the ESM Golden Shoe standings after a hat-trick against high-flying Villarreal CF that left even Real Madrid CF coach José Mourinho lost for words.
"Cristiano leaves me speechless," admitted the 47-year-old. "There he is game after game, week after week. I don't know how to describe his performances." His latest masterful display saw Ronaldo hit three on Sunday as Madrid twice came from behind to beat third-placed Villarreal 4-2 and keep the pressure on Liga leaders FC Barcelona. He teed up substitute Kaká for the other.
It took the Portugal forward to 22 goals from 18 Liga games this season, five more than Lionel Messi. The Barcelona man cemented second place in the race for the ESM Golden Shoe with his effort at RC Deportivo La Coruña. Uruguayan striker Edison Cavani was the week's major mover as his hat-trick in SSC Napoli's 3-0 win against Juventus moved him to 13 Serie A goals for the season, enough for a share of seventh on the leaderboard.
ESM Golden Shoe standings: 9 January 2011
1 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid CF, ESP) 22 goals x 2 = 44
2 Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona, ESP) 18 x 2 = 36
3 Kenny Miller (Rangers FC, SCO) 21 x 1.5 = 31.5
4 *Welliton (FC Spartak Moskva, RUS) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
5 Theofanis Gekas (Eintracht Frankfurt, GER) 14 x 2 = 28
5 Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United FC, ENG) 14 x 2 = 28
7 Edison Cavani (SSC Napoli, ITA) 13 x 2 = 26
7 Papiss Demba Cissé (SC Freiburg, GER) 13 x 2 = 26
7 Antonio Di Natale (Udinese Calcio, ITA) 13 x 2 = 26
7 Nenê (Paris Saint-Germain FC, FRA) 13 x 2 = 26
7 Moussa Sow (LOSC Lille Métropole, FRA) 13 x 2 = 26
* The Russian season is over
Rules
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.