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Lionel Messi took a step closer towards winning the European Golden Shoe for the 2018-19 season on Saturday when he scored the decisive goal in Barcelona's 1-0 win over Levante on Saturday.

Behind him, Fabio Quagliarella scored his 23rd Serie A goal of the campaign in Sampdoria's 2-1 defeat to Lazio.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah joined a clutch of players on 42 points with his 20th and 21st goals of the season in Liverpool's 5-0 win over Huddersfield Town on Friday.

Golden Shoe Standings

1. Lionel Messi, Barcelona: 34 x 2.0 difficulty factor = 68.0

2. Kylian Mbappe, Paris Saint-Germain: 30 x 2.0 = 60.0

3. Fabio Quagliarella, Sampdoria: 23 x 2.0 = 46.0

T4. Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich: 21 x 2.0 = 42.0

T4. Krzysztof Piatek, Genoa/AC Milan: 21 x 2.0 = 42.0

T4. Mbaye Diagne, Kasımpasa/Galatasaray: 28 x 1.5 = 42.0

T4. Karim Benzema, Real Madrid: 21 x 2.0 = 42.0

8. Luuk de Jong, PSV Eindhoven: 28 x 1.5 = 42.0

T9. Duvan Zapata, Atalanta: 21 x 2.0 = 42.0

T9. Luis Suarez, Barcelona: 21 x 2.0 = 42.0

T9. Mohamed Salah, Liverpool: 21 x 2.0 = 42.0

Rules: UEFA has assigned every European league a difficulty rating between one and two, which is multiplied by a player's goal tally to calculate his points total.

For example, La Liga's difficulty rating is two, so that is how many points each of Messi's goals are worth. The Eredivisie has a rating of 1.5, so Luuk de Jong's strikes are worth fewer points.

With Paris Saint-Germain involved in the Coupe de France final on Sunday, Messi had the opportunity to open up some more breathing room on closest rival Kylian Mbappe on Saturday.

Barcelona have Liverpool looming in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, so the Argentinian started the match on the bench, but he came on for the second half with the score at 0-0.

He duly made the difference when he controlled Arturo Vidal's knockdown and tucked it past Aitor Fernandez.

The win sealed La Liga for the Catalan giants, and Messi's goals have been a significant contributor:

He's helped Barcelona win a great many trophies during his time at the club:

What will help his Golden Shoe campaign is that Mbappe was sent off for an awful challenge on Rennes defender Damien Da Silva.

Per Goal's Robin Bairner, he'll be suspended for at least PSG's trip to Montpellier on Tuesday. Should he serve a longer ban, he'll have even fewer opportunities to catch Messi.

Mbappe remains comfortably ahead of Quagliarella, though, even if the 36-year-old added to his tally on Sunday when he latched onto a miscued header from Francesco Acerbi and fired home.

It was a landmark goal:

So too were Salah's for Liverpool:

The Egyptian raced onto Trent Alexander-Arnold's ball over the top and lobbed Jonas Lossl before adding a second from close range when he was picked out by Andy Robertson.

His team-mate Sadio Mane also got two goals, so he's just one behind in the race for the Premier League's Golden Boot.

Sergio Aguero also got on the scoresheet for Manchester City on Sunday as they beat Burnley 1-0, so like the title race, the Golden Boot could go down to the wire.