Lionel Messi, La Liga's deadly machine gun man
The Argentine star has taken a shot on average every 18 minutes
However he is not the most accurate in La Liga, that goes to Oyarazabal
Don't leave him space. If you do, he will shoot. His name is Lionel Messi and as well as being the best player in the world he is also La Liga's machine gun man. The Argentine has taken a huge number of shots this season, helping him get to the top of the Pichichi chart.
The No 10 has shot 55 times, 20 more than the second placed player - Cristiano Ronaldo. The difference can be explained by Ronaldo's suspension at the start of the season. Messi fires in an effort on goal every 18 minutes, matched with Borja Mayoral - who has played much left.
In terms of effectiveness, there's no comparison between Messi and Ronaldo. 22% of Messi's efforts have gone in, whereas Cristiano scores 2.8%. However in terms of accuracy, Simone Zaza and Mikel Oyarzabal are the leaders. They have scored a huge 50% of their efforts each.
Messi and Ronaldo have hit the woodwork more times than other players too - the Barcelona playmaker has struck it five times, 9% of his shots, while the Madeira born Madrid man has done so thice, 8.6%.
Only three forwards have played every minute (990) of the league season so far - Espanyol's Gerard Moreno, Las Palmas's Jonathan Calleri, and Messi. He has not entered into Valverde's rotations, helping him stay the machine gun man.
PICHICHI CHART (TOP SCORERS)
- Lionel Messi, 12 goals
- Simone Zaza, 9 goals
- Cedric Bakambu, 8 goals
- Antonio Sanabria, Rodrigo, 7 goals
- Christian Stuani, Iago Aspas, Mikel Oyarzabal, 6 goals
- Maxi Gomez 5 goals
