Golden Shoe 2016-17: Top Goalscorers in Europe, Updated Points Totals on May 2

Lionel Messi's brace against Osasuna ensured he remains top of the standings in the race for the Golden Shoe, but Bas Dost cut the deficit to four points with a hat-trick against Braga. 

Messi looked to have moved out of sight as he scored twice in Barcelona's 7-1 thrashing of the relegated team on Wednesday, but Dost helped Sporting beat Braga 3-2 and kept his Golden Shoe hopes alive.

Robert Lewandowski rounds out the top three after netting a brace for Bayern as they beat Wolfsburg 6-0.

Here are the standings:

Position	Player	Club	Goals x Constant	Points
1.	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	33 x 2.0	66.0
2.	Bas Dost	Sporting Club	31 x 2.0	62.0
3.	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	28 x 2.0	56.0
4.	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Borussia Dortmund	27 x 2.0	54.0
5.	Luis Suarez	Barcelona	26 x 2.0	52.0
T6.	Andrea Belotti	Torino	25 x 2.0	50.0
T6.	Edin Dzeko	Roma	25 x 2.0	50.0
T8.	Romelu Lukaku	Everton	24 x 2.0	48.0
T8.	Mauro Icardi	Inter Milan	24 x 2.0	48.0
10.	Edinson Cavani	Paris Saint-Germain	31 x 1.5	46.5

Rules: Each European league is assigned a difficulty factor between one and two, which is then multiplied by a player's goal tally to calculate their overall points.

For example, goals in the Premier League or Bundesliga are worth two points, while goals in Ligue 1 are worth just 1.5.

Dost Takes Race Down to the Wire

As of the last update on April 24, Messi was six points ahead of Dost. He extended that lead to 10 points in midweek as he helped Barcelona dispatch Osasuna with ease.

Per Sky Sports La Liga, the Argentinian opened the scoring with a delightful effort after intercepting a misplaced pass:

He later added another to his tally, which began with the familiar sight of him cutting onto his left foot and surging forward before curling in a finish from the edge of the area.

That should have been enough to end the race for the Golden Shoe, but Dost had other plans when Sporting took on Braga on Sunday.

The Dutchman equalised for Sporting at 1-1 with a penalty before heading them in front. After Braga pulled level at 2-2, Dost directed another powerful header on goal to win it late on.

Portuguese football expert Jan Hagen hailed Dost's incredible season:

It's still advantage Messi, but as the striker has shown he's not out of the race yet.

Realistically, Lewandowski is, but the Pole moved into third place thanks to his two goals against Wolfsburg on Saturday as Bayern clinched the Bundesliga title.

The centre-forward lashed in Thomas Muller's square ball before converting Kingsley Coman's pull-back.

As football writer Cristian Nyari demonstrated, the 28-year-old has been on the same level as the world's best in terms of goalscoring this year:

Messi has been slightly more prolific in the league, though, and so it's unlikely Lewandowski will be able to pip him to the Golden Shoe at this point.

Nevertheless, the season has simply reinforced his deserved reputation among the most potent goalscorers in world football.