Polish strikers shoot way to Europe's best scorers

With the race for the Golden Boot heating up, two Polish strikers have netted enough goals to hold the joint third position of top scorers in Europe so far this season.

Both Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski and AC Milan's Krzysztof Piatek feature near top Europe's biggest football leagues - each with 21 goals.

As it stands with the season at the mid-way point, Barcelona's Lionel Messi is in pole position to defend his crown and take the European Golden Boot award for the top scorer for 2018 -2019, with a stunning 33 goals.

In second place, Kylian Mbappe of the French side PSG has netted 27 goals.

For Lewandowski, his magnificent performance against Dortmund on Saturday saw him score twice in a thrilling 5-0 victory.

The tally brings his total goal score to 201 in the Bundesliga. During his career, the 30-year-old native of Warsaw has carved himself a place as one of the greatest strikers in modern football.

Last month, the Polish star became the highest-scoring foreigner in the Bundesliga, overtaking Claudio Pizarro of Werder Bremen. When not playing in the German league, Lewandowski is captain of the Polish national squad, where he is the all-time top scorer.

Meanwhile, Poland's Piatek - also a member of the national squad - has become a firm fixture on the Italian sporting scene, since joining the Serie A league at AC Milan for a whopping 35 million euros (about 39.2 million U.S. dollars) earlier this year.

The deal runs till 2023. His impressive start saw him become the first player since Argentinean Gabriel Batistuta at Fiorentina to score in each of the first seven games of an Italian premier season.

He moved to Milan from rivals Genoa.