Golden Shoe 2016-17: Top Goalscorers in Europe, Latest Points on March 13

Lionel Messi remains atop the leaderboard in the race for the Golden Shoe despite failing to find the net in Barcelona's 2-1 defeat to Deportivo La Coruna at the weekend, but Sporting CP striker Bas Dost shot into second place with a four goal haul against Tondela.

Dost is now level with Andrea Belotti and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the latter of whom also found the net.

Further back, Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski netted a brace to close in on Messi, while Mauro Icardi broke into the top 10 with a hat-trick for Inter Milan.

Here's a look at the standings:

Position	Player	Club	Goals x Constant	Points
1.	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	23 x 2.0	46.0
T2.	Bas Dost	Sporting CP	22 x 2.0	44.0
T2.	Andrea Belotti	Torino	22 x 2.0	44.0
T2.	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Borussia Dortmund	22 x 2.0	44.0
5.	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	21 x 2.0	42.0
6.	Edinson Cavani	Paris Saint-Germain	27 x 1.5	40.5
T7.	Mauro Icardi	Inter Milan	20 x 2.0	40.0
T7.	Edin Dzeko	AS Roma	20 x 2.0	40.0
T7.	Luis Suarez	Barcelona	20 x 2.0	40.0
T10.	Harry Kane	Tottenham Hotspur	19 x 2.0	38.0

Rules: Every 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, in the Premier League or Serie A, goals are worth two points as that is the difficulty factor in those leagues, but in Ligue 1, they are only worth 1.5 points.

Dost and Icardi Net Stunning Hauls

The biggest gains were made by Dost and Icardi as they struck four and three times, respectively.

Dost scored all of Sporting's goals as they beat Tondela 4-1 to pile further misery on the relegation candidates and consolidate their position in third in the Primeira Liga.

As Squawka Football demonstrated, the Dutchman has enjoyed a sensational start to 2017:

The striker has now scored 22 league goals in as many games, placing him firmly in contention for the Golden Shoe.

Two goals behind is Icardi, who took his tally to 20 as he helped Inter thrash Atalanta 7-1 with a perfect hat-trick in the space of nine minutes, poking home with his left foot before deftly scoring with a panenka penalty and glancing in a header soon after.

As Gianluca Di Marzio's David Amoyal noted, the Argentinian is a force to be reckoned with at home:

After scoring just once in his first seven matches in 2017, Icardi has now netted five in his last three.

Bundesliga Duo Close the Gap

Aubameyang's Borussia Dortmund lost 2-1 to Hertha Berlin, but as a consolation, his goal was enough to keep him in contention just behind Messi.

TOBIAS SCHWARZ/Getty Images

The Gabon striker scored his eighth goal in four matches in all competitions when he latched on to a Shinji Kagawa pass before producing an excellent finish into the top corner to keep him ahead of Lewandowski, per BT Sport's Archie Rhind-Tutt:

Lewandowski helped Bayern beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 to go 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, finishing off Thomas Muller's square ball from close range before adding a landmark second, as Bayern celebrated on Twitter:

With Luis Suarez and Edin Dzeko also keeping pace with a goal each over the weekend, it remains a tight race for the Golden Shoe with little separating Messi from the remainder of the top 10.

Expect there to be plenty more twists and turns before the end of the season.