Less than a week ago, the gap between Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema and AC Milan’s Alexandre Pato in the FTBL ranking of U-21 strikers amounted to more than 50 rating points. Today, the Brazilian is threatening to dethrone the France international as the world’s top U-21 striker.

The Champions League’s group stage game of last Wednesday had much to do with this reversal of fortunes for the Frenchman, as Pato grabbed a double in AC Milan’s 3:2 stunning win over the Merengues at the Bernabeu to boost his overall FTBL rating by a solid 37.4 rating points. Benzema, meanwhile, dropped more than 10 rating points.

Even though he remains 10 rating points a head, Benzema runs the risk of losing the top spot in the very near future: he will need more than 40 rating points in his next 3 games just to hold off the Brazilian, while Pato needs just a little over 10 rating points. Our prediction: by November 1st, Pato will sit at the top with a tally of more than 150 points.