Top 5 European Golden Shoe contenders

#1 Cristiano Ronaldo

Surprisingly, Ronaldo was nowhere to be seen in the top 10 last season, having endured, by his immaculate standards, a relatively poor domestic campaign in front of goal. He will feel he made up for this with success in the Champions League, but seeing great rival Lionel Messi scoop the honour will have stung.

His future apparently committed to Real Madrid after some doubts earlier in the summer, it would be a big shock if he failed to better his 25-goal league haul from last term.

A curtailed pre-season and yet another summer playing tournament football complicate matters for the Ballon d’Or winner, but when there are doubts he always seems to respond to the challenge.