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The intrigue and suspense involved in some major European leagues mean that the attention of football fans is focused on which way the pendulum would swing.
The title races are still very much in the balance in England and Germany with the top two sparing no punches in ensuring the race goes down to the wire.
However, it is not only for team trophies that attention is on, as there are also a number of personal honors up for grabs, with the very best players in the world going head on for the individual accolades.
One of such is the European Golden Boot which was first handed out in 1974 and has gone on to become one of the most prestigious individual honors in the game, as it signifies a superiority over every other player on the continent in terms of goalscoring.
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This season, the usual suspects are in for the hunt, but one name which seems some way off course is that of Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Portuguese superstar is no stranger to the award, having finished as Europe's top marksman a total of four times in the past and has his status as one of the greatest ever firmly established.
This season has however seen Ronaldo a bit off the pace, with his focus being on delivering the Champions League to Juventus and as such has not been too prolific in the league even though he has scored the rather respectable total of 19 goals.
There are a number of players who sit ahead of him on the scorer's chart in Europe's top five leagues. In this piece, we shall be taking a look at seven players who have outscored Ronaldo this season in Europe's top five leagues.
#7 Duvan Zapata (Atalanta) - 20 goals
Duvan Zapata is the chief driving force behind Atalanta's unlikely quest for a top four finish in the Italian Serie A this season.
The 28-year-old Colombian international has shone like a million stars since his loan transfer from Sampdoria this season, scoring 20 goals and five assists from 30 matches this season to help Atalanta sit fourth on the table.
#6 Luis Suarez (Barcelona) - 20 goals
Luis Suarez has been one of the premier strikers in the world over the last decade, and he has kept up his extremely high-performance levels this season.
Despite starting the season slowly, the Uruguayan international has bounced back to score 20 goals in La Liga as Barcelona look set to retain the league title they won last season.
The last of Suarez's 20 goals came over the weekend in the 2-0 victory over Atletico Madrid when he finished emphatically from 25 yards although he would be keen to erase his recent poor record in the Champions League.
#5 Krzysztof Piatek (AC Milan) - 20 goals
Piatek has grown from strength to strength since signing for Genoa last summer from Polish club CS Cracovia.
The 23-year-old has set all sorts of scoring records in his debut season in Italy and it was not much of a surprise that he left Genoa to sign for Italian fallen giants AC Milan in January to replace the Chelsea bound Higuain.
At the San Siro, the Polish international has kept up his scoring rate, finding the net on seven occasions in Serie A for the Rossoneri to add to the 13 he scored for Genoa for a grand total of 20 strikes - the last of which came in an ultimately futile 2-1 defeat to Juventus.
#4 Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria) - 21 goals
Despite turning 36, Fabio Quagliarella is making sure he signs out from his legendary career with a bang.
He scored just two goals from his first nine matches in Serie A this season, but from then on went onto an entirely different level, scoring in the next 11 matches consecutively - a run which lasted from October to February and saw him equal the legendary Gabriel Batistuta's long-standing record.
His form saw him deservedly called up to the Italian national team for the first time in eight years and he kept up with his performances by scoring from the penalty spot in the 6-0 victory over Liechtenstein.
In total, Quagliarella has scored 21 goals to sit top of the scorer's chart in Italy and if he goes on to claim the Serie A Golden Boot, no one would begrudge him that after the spectacular season he has had.
#3 Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) - 21 goals
Robert Lewandowski is an undoubted world class striker who has been at the top of his game for the last seven years.
The 30-year-old is no stranger to winning the title and top scorer's boot in Germany, having won each six and three times respectively.
The Polish international is on course to make it seven titles and four Golden Boots won as he scored a brace over the weekend in Die Klassiker against his former club Borussia Dortmund to send him onto 21 goals and move Bayern Munich top of the table.
#2 Kylian Mbappe (PSG) - 27 goals
Mbappe continues to grow from strength to strength ever since making his breakout during the course of the 2016/2017 season.
Since then, the French international has gone on to become the second costliest player in history, been named the Golden Boy, won and scored in a World Cup final, made it into the FIFPro XI and won the inaugural Kopa award - all before he turned 20.
So far this season, Mbappe has led PSG's charge in retaining their Ligue 1 title in the absence of Neymar and Cavani with 27 goals even though he was powerless to stop his club's elimination from the Champions League at the expense of Manchester United.
#1 Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - 33 goals
There was always going to be only one man on top of this list, an there would have been no prizes for guessing who.
Lionel Messi is already the record winner of this award, having won it for the fifth time in his career last season and this term he is involved in a one-man race to extend his record to six.
The 31-year-old has scored an unbelievable 33 La Liga goals from just 29 matches, while he also leads the way with a league high 12 assists.
The latest of his goals came when he scored late on to make it 2-0 in the match against Atletico Madrid and effectively end the Rojiblancos' La Liga challenge.
It is however not only in Spain that Messi has delivered, as he also leads the way in terms of goals scored on the continent with eight goals as he leads the charge to guide Barcelona to the third treble in their history.
