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

Spain’s top scorer is a trophy that’s highly coveted – the last few years have been exchanged between two of the greatest footballers of our generation (any generation, for that matter) like it’s a toy in a kid store... each of them have won it twice. All was fun and frolic till Luis Suarez decided to announce himself to Spain last year – smashing in 35 goals at 1.1. goals per game.

Fun fact – the last non-Messi, non-Ronaldo (ergo, normal being) to win the Pichichi was the great Uruguayan Diego Forlan. 

Notable absentees – Gareth Bale’s various injury ailments have prevented him from hitting any semblance of form and his record of 7 goals speaks for itself. Karim Benzema’s 9 goals are nowhere near good enough either to make the cut. 

The bottom half of the top 10 highlights the domination of the Basque clubs in the middle of the table -their battle (including Villareal and fellow Basques Eibar) has proven to be one of the highlights of the season and their marksmen Willian Jose and Aritz Aduriz are in the thick of the action. Also coming into the fray are Barcelona reject Sandro Ramirez whose goals have lifted Malaga into safety, Kevin Gameiro whose goals have come in fits and bursts, Gerard Moreno who has headlined a pretty decent season for Espanyol and the inimitable Alvaro Morata who always delivers when given a chance. In fact, the Real Madrid marksman’s mins per goal ratio is better than anybody on this list, except for the man who is no.1

#10, Neymar – 13 goals

Club – Barcelona

Assists – 11

Shots on target – 53%; Minutes per goal –  197; Minutes played – 2562

#10. Gerard Moreno – 13 goals

Club – Espanyol

Assists – 4

Shots on target – 47%; Minutes per goal - 245; Minutes played – 3100

#8. Sandro Ramirez – 14 goals

Club – Malaga

Assists – 3

Shots on target – 60%; Minutes per goal – 160; Minutes played –  2246

#7. Alvaro Morata – 16 goals

Club – Real Madrid

Assists – 4

Shots on target – 60%; Minutes per goal – 84; Minutes played – 1254

#5 Aritz Aduriz – 16 goals

Club – Athletic Bilbao

Assist – 1

Shots on target – 61%; Minutes per goal -146; Minutes played –  2340