Golden Shoe 2015-16: Top Goalscorers in Europe, Latest Standings on May 16

Daniel Tejedor/Associated Press

Barcelona superstar Luis Suarez ^[1] has all but etched his name on the 2015-16 Golden Shoe, with only a handful of official European league matches still to play this season.

The Uruguay international is set to pick up the award for the second time in his career after bagging 40 goals, having finished as joint-champion alongside Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo while at Liverpool in 2014.

Suarez held a slim lead coming into the final weekend of La Liga's season, but a hat-trick performance against Granada not only helped secure the Blaugrana a league title, but a Golden Shoe as well.

Manchester United play Bournemouth in the Premier League on Tuesday after their Sunday fixture was abandoned, per BBC Sport ^[2], while matches in Israel, Turkey and elsewhere in Europe mean the Golden Shoe race is still technically open.

Read on for a breakdown of the 2015-16 Golden Shoe rankings as things stand:

2015-16 Golden Shoe Standings: May 16
Position	Player	Team	Goals x Factor	Overall
1	Luis Suarez	Barcelona	40 x 2.0	80.0
2	Gonzalo Higuain	Napoli	36 x 2.0	72.0
3	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	35 x 2.0	70.0
4	Jonas	Benfica	31 x 2.0	62.0
5	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	30 x 2.0	60.0
6	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	PSG	38 x 1.5	57.0
7	Islam Slimani	Sporting CP	27 x 2.0	54.0
8	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	26 x 2.0	52.0
T9	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Borussia Dortmund	25 x 2.0	50.0
T9	Harry Kane	Tottenham Hotspur	25 x 2.0	50.0

Transfermarkt

Rules: Every league in Europe is rated on its difficulty by UEFA and attributed a constant between one and two.

With a rating of two, goals scored in La Liga and the Premier League are doubled to achieve a player's points tally, whereas in Ligue 1, for example, they are only multiplied by 1.5.

Suarez Within Reach of Golden Shoe

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

Suarez is on the cusp of winning a second Golden Shoe.

Claiming the Golden Shoe may not have seemed a realistic hope for Suarez back in April, when a fifth yellow card of the league season earned him a one-match suspension with lots of room in the race to make up.

However, a flurry or fine finishes in front of goal over recent weeks has seen the South American lay waste to any gulf separating him from the top to effectively confirm his place as Golden Shoe winner:

The Golden Shoe, 2015/16 #Suarez pic.twitter.com/oXD6aYlAUq ^[3]^[4]
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) May 16, 2016 ^[5]

Suarez's hat-trick at Granada on Saturday brought his tally to 40 for the league campaign and meant he's now scored 14 goals in his last five games, with three of his six hat-tricks this term coming in that span.

Barcelona made sure to congratulate their star during Sunday's victory parade through the Catalonian capital, with Suarez ultimately acres ahead of the competition:

⚽🔝 Goal machine! Luis Suárez picks up double award after hitting 40 in La Liga: https://t.co/V9y0D6g3H2 #CampionsFCB pic.twitter.com/0RzQrRyquG ^[6]^[7]^[8]
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) May 16, 2016 ^[9]

No longer is Lionel Messi ^[10] the sole superstar at the Camp Nou, and Suarez showed alongside Neymar this season that he can also be responsible for the club's success.

Now firmly settled into his Spanish surroundings, the Uruguayan will attempt to continue improving his former bad-boy image by letting displays on the pitch do the talking.

Late Dashes Can't Catch Suarez

CARLO HERMANN/Getty Images

Higuain's hat-trick against Frosinone was his first in Serie A this season.

Suarez's hat-trick haul at the final hurdle was well-timed on Saturday, considering he wasn't the only player who completed a mad dash for the finish line in their last league appearance of the season.

Gonzalo Higuain's hat-trick for Napoli against Frosinone brought his tally up to an extremely respectable 36 for the campaign, and BT Sport's James Horncastle felt he was even better than Suarez:

Has @G_Higuain been more impressive than @LuisSuarez9 this season? @JamesHorncastle thinks so. #BTEFS https://t.co/xLkoV4mVi4 ^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]
— BT Sport Football (@btsportfootball) May 15, 2016 ^[16]

Meanwhile, Ronaldo attempted to pull Real into late La Liga title contention and scored twice during his side's 2-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna to break a record of his own, according to Fanatix:

Cristiano Ronaldo, 50+ goals in his last 6 seasons:
10/11: 53
11/12: 60
12/13: 55
13/14: 51
14/15: 61
15/16: 51 pic.twitter.com/MStWz9JaiJ ^[17]
— fanatix (@therealfanatix) May 15, 2016 ^[18]

Benfica's Jonas, Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski, Sporting Lisbon's Islam Slimani and departing Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic each added goals to their name in the final league weekend, but it was too little, too late.

Ibrahimovic in particular can feel aggrieved not to have finished higher than sixth in the Golden Shoe rankings, having netted 38 goals this season, but he's an unfortunate victim to the lower-difficulty modifier.