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Bas Dost hat trick boosts bid to beat Lionel Messi to Golden Shoe

Sporting Lisbon striker Bas Dost continues to rival Barcelona's Lionel Messi for the Golden Shoe award after scoring a hat trick at the weekend.

Dost, 27, inspired Sporting to a 3-2 win over Braga and took his scoring tally for the season to 31 in 28 league matches.

Meanwhile, Messi, who is a three-time European Golden Shoe winner, has 33 La Liga goals to his name this campaign, although he was not on target at the weekend.

According to the European Sports Media points system, Dost now resides on 62 points while Messi has 66 with three matches left to play each.

Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski is third in the list on 56 points, Borussia Dortmund's Patrick Aubameyang is fourth (54) and Barca's Luis Suarez is fifth (52).

European Sports Media, a European association of football related publications, has awarded the Golden Shoe since the 1996-97 season.