Atletico Madrid's Radamel Falcao draws German club Bayer 04 Leverkusen during the draw ceremony for the UEFA Europa League group stage at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, 31 August 2012. Pix: EPAMADRID: Atletico Madrid ace striker Radamel Falcao is pleased to have scored as many goals in Primera Liga as Barcelona's and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo thus far, and is hopeful of being able to keep up with the duo for the remainder of the season.

The Colombia international scored once in Sunday's 2-1 win over Malaga to take his league tally for the 2012-2013 campaign to eight, and Falcao is relishing the prospect of challenging Messi and Ronaldo for the Pichichi (top scorer) title.

"Everything's still very close, but I am enjoying fighting with them for the top scorer title," Falcao told El Tiempo.

"I'm already proud to have been ahead of them at some point this season. Hopefully I can keep this up and continue challenging them. I want to replicate last year's goalscoring numbers."

Meanwhile, former Barca and Real midfielder Bernd Schuster voiced his opinion that Falcao, also known as 'El Tigre' is at the same level as Messi and Ronaldo following his impressive performances in recent months.

"Right now the Colombian is like Messi and Cristiano. They're from another planet," the German told Marca.

- mD