The Liga 2023/2024 season kicked off with the first matches played on Friday, August 11, introducing a new competition among the top scorers of the Spanish championship. These key players have thrown down the gauntlet, already scoring their goals against the forward from Barcelona, Robert Lewandowski, who earned the prestigious Pichichi title during the Liga 2022/23. In the 2022/23 season, the Polish bomber outshined his predecessor, Karim Benzema, with 23 goals leaving Benzema to settle for second place with 19 goals, and Joselu from Espanyol who scored 16. The burning question now is, who will dethrone Lewandowski?
The Pichichi is an annual award handed out by the daily newspaper Marca. The award was first launched in the 1952/1953 season. The trophy gets its name from prolific goal-scorer Rafael Moreno Aranzadi of the 1920s, who was famously known as Pichichi. He played his football years prior to the creation of the single-round Spanish championship.
As per updated statistics, the top scorers in Spain’s top football championship are led by Bellingham from Real Madrid with 13 goals, followed closely by Morata from Atletico Madrid and Borja Mayoral from Getafe, both scoring 12 goals. Griezmann from Atletico Madrid and Dovbyk from Girona are tied with 11 goals each.
Speaking of eight goals are Guruzeta and Iñaki Williams from Athletic Bilbao, and Lewandowski from Barcelona with two penalties, while Strand Larsen from Celta Vigo and Rodrygo from Real Madrid, among others, have secured seven goals each. With six goals, there were six players include Willian José from Betis, Stuani from Girona and Uzuni from Granada.
The golden list of Pichichi, which has an array of legendary players who have dominated Spanish football over the years includes names such as Ronaldo, Ferenc Puskas and Lionel Messi. Messi, from Argentina, playing for Barcelona is the most recent winner, recognized several times over the span of a decade. According to the record book, he scored 25, 30, 37, 34, 36 goals between 2019 and 2021, while in 2022/23, Robert Lewandowski taking up his mantle scoring 23 goals for Barcelona.