Messi - Suarez: An 'Azulgrana' battle for the Pichichi

Barcelona’s win over Eibar was the fourth consecutive victory in all competitions, with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez once again on the scoresheet. The two each have 15 league goals this season, clear of Cristiano Ronaldo (12), who did not score in Real Madrid’s win over Malaga at the weekend. 

Messi has won two Pichichis (2011-12 and 2012-13) previously and Suarez one (2015-16). The Argentine’s winning tallies were 50 and 45, while the Uruguayan’s was 40. Now it looks like they may battle it out with each other for Spain’s Golden Boot, although Suarez assured after the game it’s the team that comes first. 

60 PERCENT OF GOALS 

The Messi-Suarez partnership is keeping Barça in the hunt for La Liga. Between them they have scored 30 of the side’s 51 league goals. That’s 58.8 percent. The rest are shared out as follows: Rafinha and Neymar (5), Arda Turan (3), Rakitic and Piqué (2) and Mathieu, Jordi Alba, Aleix Vidal and Denis (1).

Meanwhile, Messi once again came up with the goods against Eibar. He’s now scored six goals in four games against them. He now has 481 goals in 556 Barcelona games. In La Liga he’s won 327 games (182 at home, 145 away) in 364 games. Brutal. 

The MSN, who in their first season scored 122 and in their second 131, currently have 56. In total, they have scored 309 since they started playing together. 

Both Messi and Suarez are also candidates for Europe’s Golden Shoe. At the moment Borussia Dortmund’s Aubameyang leads the way with 16 goals (32 points) followed by the Barça duo have 15, a total matched by Diego Costa (Chelsea), Icardi (Inter), Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal) and Cavani (PSG).