Golden Shoe 2025: Salah left with one final chance

Liverpool’s Premier League defeat to Brighton on Monday has left Mohamed Salah with only one opportunity to keep his hopes of winning the 2025 European Golden Shoe alive.

The Reds suffered a 3-2 loss at the Amex Stadium in the closing minutes of the match, marking their third consecutive failure to secure a win since being crowned champions.

For Salah, who is still in pursuit of the prestigious individual award, the night brought further frustration as he failed to find the net.

With just one league fixture remaining — a final-day clash against Crystal Palace — Salah now faces an uphill task.

The Egyptian forward must score at least two goals to have a chance of overtaking the current leader, Viktor Gyökeres of Sporting CP, in the Golden Shoe rankings.

The race for the top scorer in European domestic leagues is as intense as ever, with several prolific names vying for the honour.

The current top five contenders are: Viktor Gyökeres (Sporting CP), Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), and Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona).

Among these, only Mbappé, Salah, and Lewandowski still have one match left to play. Gyökeres has already concluded his campaign with 39 league goals, earning him 58.5 points under UEFA’s coefficient system — which assigns weighted points based on league difficulty.

Salah currently sits in third place with 28 goals, translating to 56 points. To surpass Gyökeres, he must score at least two more goals on the final day, which would bring his tally to 30 goals and 60 points — narrowly edging the Swedish striker.

Kylian Mbappé, in second place with 29 goals (58 points), also remains in striking distance. A single goal in his final game would push him ahead of Gyökeres. Similarly, Lewandowski, currently on 25 goals (50 points), would need a dramatic performance to contend seriously, requiring a minimum of five goals to take the lead — an unlikely but not impossible scenario for a striker of his calibre.

The European Golden Shoe, awarded annually to the continent’s most prolific league goalscorer, considers both the number of goals scored and the strength of the league in which the player competes.

Each goal scored in Europe’s top five leagues (England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France) is worth two points, giving players like Salah a theoretical edge if they can match or surpass their rivals in raw goals.

Salah, already a two-time Premier League Golden Boot winner, is no stranger to high-stakes scoring races. However, this year’s challenge comes with added pressure, as the Liverpool talisman looks to end the season on a high and add another accolade to his already glittering career.

With the Premier League campaign drawing to a close this weekend, all eyes will be on Anfield, where Salah’s final act of the season could decide whether he leaves with individual glory — or narrowly misses out.

Golden Shoe Standings – May 2025

Salah’s final chance comes against Crystal Palace on Sunday — a game that could seal his name in the Golden Shoe record books, or mark the end of a valiant chase.