La Liga 2016/17: Top 5 Contenders for the Pichichi Trophy

The Pichichi trophy – named after legendary Athletic Bilbao striker Rafael “Pichichi” Moreno - has been awarded by Madrid based newspaper Marca for the top scorer in La Liga, since 1952-53. Since 2009-10, the trophy had been monopolised between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo – the two of them have won it three times each – till Luis Suarez came along and blasted in 35 goals at an insane ratio of 1.1 goals per game.

(interestingly, the last non-Ronaldo non-Messi entity to win the Pichichi before Suarez was his fellow Uruguayan Diego Forlan)

Notable absentees

As things stand, Barcelona’s Neymar misses the cutfor the top ten with just 8 goals this season (at 245 minutes-per-goal) as does Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema (7 at 187), Gareth Bale (7 at 161) and Alvaro Morata (8 at an impressive 110 minutes-per-goal)

This has gone from a top 10 to a top 11, just because of the three way tie at the fag end.

#11. Wissam Ben Yedder, Willian Jose, Pablo Piatti – 9

Sevilla’s Wissam Ben Yedder is tied with Real Sociedad’s Willian Jose and Espanyol’s Pablo Piatti on 9 goals. Of the lot, the Sevilla man has the better goals-to-minutes ratio at 145 as compared to Jose’s 166 and Piatti’s 179.

#8. Sergi Enrich, Kevin Gameiro – 10

The impressive Eibar forward has scintillated this season and his return of 10 goals is just return for a marvellous season so far in which tiny Eibar has caught everyone by suprise (the pleasant kind). He is joined on 10 goals by Atletico Madrid’s Kevin Gameiro, who despite having struggled for a cemented starting berth has chipped in with crucial goals. Enrich has a minutes-to-goal ratio of 199, while Gamerios’ stands at 145.

#.6 Gerard Moreno – 11

Moreno has been the attacking spearhead of an exciting Espanyol side that has moved away from it’s stereotypical image of dour, out-to-get-a-draw, team to one that has wowed crowds across Spain with their brand of vibrant attacking footbal. He has 11 goals to his name at 216 minutes apiece.

#5. Antoine Griezmann – 13

The Frenchman has had a rather subdued season, much like Atletico Madrid.

But a late resurgence in form is pushing both player and team towards the right end of the table. While Atletico are almost definitely out of the title race, lying as they are in third ten and eight points adrift of Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively, they are just five points off a Sevilla that seems to be running out of steam – and a third place finish will be a major boost to morale.

Leading this surge is the man who finished second runner-up to those two in both the Ballon d’Or and FIFA BEST Awards this season. Although, he’s had a couple of high profile misses from the spot – a problem plaguing all of the Atletico frontiline, it appears – he’s been ruthless in open play and has scored 13 goals at a not all that impressive 171 minutes-per-goal. This, and that goals scored column, will surely get a boost by the end of the season, though.

On a side, he does 6 assists to his name. Not too shabby at all.

#4. Iago Aspas – 14

Yes, that Aspas. The Galician is ripping it apart for his local club this season.

The X-factor in this list, The former Liverpool flop has gone home and resurrected a career that was down in the doldrums. His 14 goals for Celta Vigo have come at just 125 minutes apiece, but that is not the most critical stat of them all. Neither is it the fact that he has 3 assists to back those goals up and boost his attacking menace.

It’s the fact that his goals amount for 36% of the goals the Galician outfit have scored. THIRTY SIX! That’s higher than everyone on the Pichichi ranking list and highlights Celta’s dependence on him. When he is on his A-game, they are virtually unstoppable – as Barcelona found at the Balaidos, but when he’s not at his best they are toothless as Barcelona showed at the Camp Nou.

In terms of this individual honour alone, though, Aspas’ consistency may well see him hold off the late charge from Griezmann.

#3. Cristiano Ronaldo - 19

Although he suffered a slow start to the season after recovering from the injury he suffered in the Euro 2016 final (and that draining emotional high that came with lifting his nation’s first major trophy), he’s been in the thick of the action for the vast majority of the season and has been back to doing what he does best – scoring day-in and day-out, the highlight being a hattrick as Real Madrid thrashed Atletico Madrid 3-0 in the last derby to be played at the Vicente Calderon.

He’s scored his 19 goals at a phenomenal 97 minutes-a-piece and has had 3 assists to top it all off. He does, though, have the highest number of goals from penalties on this list – nailing 6 penalties this season. He’s also accounted for 28% of his team’s league goals.

Considering he has a game in hand over the other two on the list – and his propensity to bag hattricks at will when the fancy takes him, do not consider this race over just yet.

#2. Luis Suarez – 21

For all the slag he’s getting these days, Luis Suarez has been in phenomenal form this season. He’s been at the heart of everything good Barcelona have done and his 9 assists to back that 21 goal tally lay as testament to that.

As he did when he won the Golden boot in the Premier League at Liverpool (he also tied for the Golden Shoe that year with Cristiano Ronaldo) he’s done this without taking a single penalty. Despite scoring once against Deportivo over the weekend, he should have added to his tally in that same game itself – but a rare off day means that he’s stuck at second. For the time being. His goals have came at just over one a game, as he scores one every 95 minutes

Suarez always plays his best when his back is against the wall, and he feels the whole world is against him – and it’s slowly approaching that stage again this season. Watch out #1, the defending champion is coming back to retain his crown!

#1. Lionel Messi – 23

Surprise, surprise! Lionel Messi tops the goalscorers chart this season in Spain, and the way it’s going it’s highly unlikely that anyone – even his great friend and teammate Luis Suarez will take the trophy away from him this season.

The numbers, as always with the little Argentine, are off the charts. He has bagged his 23 goals at the quite frankly ludicrous 85 minutes a pop in La Liga. He’s scored with 58% of the shots he’s taken, and he’s accounted for 30% of all the goals that Barcelona have scored this season. Oh, and he’s also got 7 assists to his name.A recent dip in form has seen many an armchair expert write him off, most notably the former French manager Raymond Domenech, but you write of Leo Messi at your peril.