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Daily Record

Sport

Ross Pilcher

Antonio Colak's stunning Rangers goal tally among best in WORLD football as he outguns elite marksmen

Antonio Colak Gers Rangers Football Erling Haaland Ibrox (Facility) Manchester City

Another game, another two goals for Antonio Colak on Saturday.

The Croatian took just five minutes to open the scoring against Hearts last weekend. He did it in four against St Mirren as Rangers ran out 4-0 winners against the Buddies at Ibrox, keeping them two points behind Celtic at the top after the Hoops struck very, very late to beat St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park in the lunchtime kick-off.

James Tavernier’s penalty after half-an-hour doubled the advantage before Colak added his second and Gers’ third with 17 minutes remaining. He was replaced before he could bag a hat-trick, and Fashion Sakala rounded off the scoring in stoppage time by adding a fourth. These latest strikes take Colak’s season total to 13 in 16 matches. He has 10 goals in nine Scottish Premiership appearances and three in ten Champions League outings after netting in the qualifiers. Colak has now scored a brace in his last three league outings.

But how does his strike rate compare to the other top scorers across the globe? Colak is ranked number eight on the planet when it comes to goals and fourth in Europe.

Erling Haaland is the name on everyone’s lips after his sensational start to life at Manchester City. The Norwegian powerhouse tops the global scoring charts with 15 goals in nine games.

But Colak is outsourcing just about every big name forward on the continent. Robert Lewandowski has continued scoring regularly after swapping Bayern Munich for Barcelona. But the Pole is ninth in the European standings with nine goals in seven league appearances.

Neymar’s total of eight in seven matches have him 13th in Europe. PSG teammate Lionel Messi is well down the list, with five league goals in nine outings.

If Colak maintains his current rate of goals, then he could be in with a shout of claiming the Golden Shoe. The last Scot to win the award was - fittingly - Ally McCoist in 1992/93. The Ibrox legends netted 34 goals, matching his tally from the previous campaign in which he also landed the top scorer gong.

However the way in which Golden Shoe rankings are calculated could count against Colak. Goals scored in the top five leagues according to the UEFA coefficients list are multiplied by a factor of two, goals scored in the leagues ranked 6 to 22 (previously 9 to 21) are multiplied by a factor of 1.5, and goals scored in leagues ranked 22 and below are multiplied by a factor of 1. Thus, goals scored in higher ranked leagues will count for more than those scored in weaker leagues.

That will make it difficult to catch Haaland, with his strikes in the English Premier League counting for more. But Colak is right up there with the leading strikers in the world and still has plenty of football left to play.