GOLDEN BOOT: RONALDO MAINTAINS LEAD

Cristiano Ronaldo is closing in on his first Golden Boot Award in the Italian Serie A after hemaintained his four-goal lead over RomeluLukaku by netting the opening goal in the win over Napoli in a rescheduled week three game in midweek.

The Juventus talisman took his tally to 25 goals in the league with his opener in the 2-1 win over Napoli at home on Wednesday night. His goal set the Old Lady on the way to three valuable points in the race to qualify for Champions League football next season.

Inter Milan star Lukaku is the nearest challenger to Cristiano Ronaldo in the race to win the Golden Boot Award at the end of the season and he was also on target to help his team beatSassuolo 2-1 at home on Wednesday night in what was a rescheduled league game. The win over Sassuolo took Inter 11 points clear of rivals AC Milan in second place with nine games left to play in the league.

Lukaku scored against Sassuolo at the San Siro to take his goal tally to 21 goals. The Belgian international seems to be the only one standing between Cristiano Ronaldo and a first Golden Boot Award since moving to Italy in the summer of 2018.

Apart from Ronaldo and Lukaku, the likes of Luis Muriel, Lautaro Martinez, Simeon Nwankwo, Zlatan Ibrahimovicand Lorenzo Insigne have also scored at least 15 goals in the league this season.

Colombia and Atalanta striker Muriel has scored 18 goals in the Italian Serie A this season, while Inter attacker Martinez has 15 goals. Just like Martinez, Crotone striker Nwankwo, Milan talisman Ibrahimovic and Napoli winger Insigne are all scored on 15 goals.

It's surprising that Ronaldo has not won theGolden Boot Award in his time in the Serie A but that run is likely to end this season, his third season in Italy. In his first season, he scored 21 league goals finishing five goals short of Golden Boot Award recipient Fabio Quagiarella of Sampdoria. In his second season, Ronaldo also finished five goals short of Lazio striker Ciro Immobile, the Golden Boot Award recipient. Immobile scored 36 goals for his capital club.