3 players who could pip Ronaldo to the Serie A Golden Boot

#1 Fabio Quagiarella (Sampdoria)

Quagliarella has been in fine form

There is a saying that 'the older it is, the better it tastes' and while this is mostly applicable to vintage wine, a certain footballer in the Serie A seems to be applying this principle.

Fabio Quagliarella turned 36 on the 31st of January, but nothing in his game suggests that he has exactly two decades of professional football in his legs.

The Udinese man is defying all pre-conceived notions about 'old players' and is leaving an everlasting mark on the Italian game so late in his career.

Having started the season on lukewarm terms - scoring just two goals from his first nine matches, the former Napoli man sparked into life at the end of October, scoring in the 3-2 win over AC Milan which was to be the start of a spectacular run which saw him score in the next 11 matches consecutively.

This saw him tie the long-standing record of the legendary Gabriel Batistuta and got the press talking about Quagliarella.

Despite the run coming to an end in the 3-0 defeat to Napoli in February, Quagriarella did not let that deter him and he has continued his fine run of form, scoring five goals in his seven matches since then to sit top of the scorer's chart in Italy with 21 goals.

His form has been so impressive that it was difficult for Azzurri coach Roberto Mancini to ignore him despite his penchant for sticking with youth throughout his spell at the helm and as such he gave the Sampdoria man his first international call-up in over eight years.

In keeping with his goal run of late, Quagliarella scored a brace in Italy's 6-0 demolition of Liechtenstein to make him the county's oldest ever goalscorer.

Italy is famed for having a tradition of legendary players performing late into their career, from Paulo Maldini, Francesco Totti to Gigi Buffon and Fabio Quagrliarela is set to join this illustrious list.

Even though he might still have some way to go before getting the record as Serie A's oldest Golden Boot winner (that honour belongs to Luca Toni who scored 22 goals to win the award in 2015 at the age of 38), there is no taking away from the brilliant season Quagliarella has had.