It’s been a few years since we last saw such a close battle to secure the Golden Shoe - the award given by European Sports Magazines to the top goalscorer in Europe.
Kylian Mbappé found the target twice in this afternoon’s victory over Real Sociedad. The French forward stormed into contention scoring in all of Madrid’s last five games - bagging nine goals to take his personal tally for the season to 31 and finish with a Golden Shoe score of 62.
Salah has slipped down to third with 28 goals, giving him a score of 56. He could still overtake Mbappé - but would need to score at least four goals in Liverpool’s final game of the campaign, against Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Barring any huge surprises - like Isak netting six or more goals against Everton, the Egyptian should finish the season as the Premier League’s top scorer - it will be the fourth time he has achieved the feat.
Sporting Clube’s Viktor Gyökeres seconds the list with 39 goals, and a Golden Shoe score of 58.5 (Primeira Liga goals have a coefficient of 1.5 compared to goals scored in LaLiga, the Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 which have a value of 2).
Harry Kane is out of the race, and sat fourth in the standings with 52 points (26 goals for Bayern).
Several players could move up the standings when the Premier League and LaLiga campaigns conclude this weekend. Apart from Salah, Erling Haaland, Alexander Isak, Mateo Retegui, Robert Lewandowski and Ante Budimir will all have one last chance to improve their respective positions.