Golden Shoe 2016-17: Top Goalscorers in Europe, Updated Standings on April 17

Lionel Messi scored a brace for Barcelona on Saturday to take sole lead of the race for the 2016-17 Golden Shoe, albeit he is just one point ahead of Bas Dost after he added yet another goal to his tally.

Messi helped the Blaugrana to a 3-2 win over Real Sociedad a day after Dost had taken possession of the lead with his goal in Sporting CP's 3-0 win over Vitoria de Setubal.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang pulled level with Robert Lewandowski on 26 goals in the Bundesliga, while Serie A duo Edin Dzeko and Andrea Belotti are tied with one another on 25.

Here are the latest standings after another weekend in which many of Europe's top goalscorers found the net once again:

Position	Player	Club	Goals x Constant	Points
1.	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	29 x 2.0	58.0
2.	Bas Dost	Sporting Club	28 x 2.0	56.0
T3.	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	26 x 2.0	52.0
T3.	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Borussia Dortmund	26 x 2.0	52.0
T5.	Andrea Belotti	Torino	25 x 2.0	50.0
T5.	Edin Dzeko	Roma	25 x 2.0	50.0
T7.	Romelu Lukaku	Everton	24 x 2.0	48.0
T7.	Luis Suarez	Barcelona	24 x 2.0	48.0
T9.	Anthony Modeste	Cologne	23 x 2.0	46.0
T9.	Gonzalo Higuain	Juventus	23 x 2.0	46.0

Rules: Every European league is assigned a difficulty rating by UEFA between one and two, which is then multiplied by a player's goal tally to calculate his points total.

For example, goals in La Liga or the Premier League are worth two points each, but in Ligue 1, they are only worth 1.5.

Messi Takes Sole Lead, Dost Stays in Touching Distance

The Argentinian fired Barcelona in front early on at the Camp Nou when he rifled home a low effort into the bottom corner from distance in the 17th minute, per Sky Sports La Liga:

He doubled their lead 20 minutes later when he bundled home a rebound from Luis Suarez.

Messi is now one short of reaching 30 La Liga goals for the sixth time in his career and two short of yet another incredible milestone, per former Barcelona striker Gary Lineker:

The forward regained the initiative in the race for the Golden Shoe after Dost had taken the lead himself on Friday, when he rounded out the scoring in Sporting's 3-0 win by converting Alan Ruiz's cross.

Dost is enjoying the most prolific campaign of his career since netting 38 in all competitions for Heerenveen in 2011-12—Messi will undoubtedly take some beating, but the Dutchman continues to keep himself in contention.

So too did Aubameyang when he finished off a rapid counter-attack from Ousmane Dembele's through ball to wrap up a 3-1 victory for Borussia Dortmund over Eintracht Frankfurt.

In Italy, Belotti continued to enhance his credentials as Torino drew 1-1 with Crotone, per Squawka Football:

Dzeko netted Roma's only goal as they played out the same scoreline with Atalanta, while Gonzalo Higuain entered the top 10 with both of Juventus' goals in their 2-0 win over Pescara.

The Argentinian reached a significant milestone and is closing in on some illustrious figures in European football:

"

200+ goals in Europe’s top 5 leagues since the year 2000.

Legends live here. pic.twitter.com/wt9qexe3qV

— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) April 15, 2017"

Higuain hasn't quite been the same force with the Bianconeri this season as he was with Napoli last year, perhaps as a result of Juve sharing the goals around more than the Partenopei, who relied on him much more heavily.

The Golden Shoe looks to be out of reach, but he's nevertheless having an excellent campaign.