Ronaldo narrows the gap to Messi with 70 points!

Lionel Messi still leads the Castrol EDGE Rankings as we enter April, but Cristiano Ronaldo has yet again narrowed the points gap between himself and the 2012 Ballon d’Or winner; this time to 70 points.

Messi continued his extraordinary form in La Liga during March, and with his goal against Celta Vigo in Bracelona’s final game of the month he netted in his 19^th successive Spanish Liga game, thus becoming the first player in Spanish football history to score against every opposition team in La Liga consecutively.

Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo enjoyed a strong March, with five goals in five appearances in the Spanish Liga and Champions League combined. The former Manchester United forward broke the Red Devils’ hearts with a winner in the Champions League game between the two at Old Trafford and was a prolific threat in front of goal in La Liga during March, with his 23 shots and 12 shots on target both league-highs.

Borussia Dortmund’s much-admired striker Robert Lewandowski had a month to remember; netting more goals than any other player in the top five leagues during March (6), while his goal against VfB Stuttgart in Dortmund’s final game of the month means that the Pole has now scored in nine successive Bundesliga appearances for the club. His fantastic form has seen him jump 27 places to 7^th in the latest Castrol EDGE Rankings; the biggest rise within the top 10.

Another star from the Bundesliga; Stefan Kießling (10^th), makes it in to the top 10 of the Rankings for the first time in his career. Only the aforementioned Lewandowski (20 goals) has netted more often in the Bundesliga this season than the 29-year-old Bayer Leverkusen striker (18 goals), who is enjoying his best goal return in the competition since 2009-10 (21 goals).

Liverpool’s Uruguayan forward Luis Suárez has improved yet again this month, leaping two places from 7^th to 5^th place; his fifth successive rise in the Castrol EDGE Rankings. The highly-coveted striker has vastly improved his clinical edge in front of goal this season, converting 17.6% of his shots – a massive difference from his conversion rate in 2011-12 (10%). He still finds himself behind his rival at the top of the Premier League goalscoring charts, however, as Robin van Persie jumps three places to 3^rd place in the Rankings in the latest edition. Another Premier League star to feature highly in the Castrol EDGE Rankings this month is Spurs’ Gareth Bale. The Welshman is the third highest midfielder in the Rankings (16^th) and has had a wonderful league season at the Lilywhites so far; netting 17 goals heading in to April.

There is no place for a defender in the Top 10 of the latest edition of the Castrol EDGE Rankings, but three occupy the next three places; Thiago Silva (11^th), Leonardo Bonucci (12^th) and Carles Puyol (13^th).

Brazilian Thiago Silva has been a key part of the Paris Saint Germain side which has qualified for the final eight of the Champions League as well as enjoying a comfortable lead at the top of the French Ligue 1 table. In the 18 Ligue 1 games in 2013-13 where the central defender has appeared, PSG have kept a clean sheet on 11 occasions (61% of games).