The 2015/2016 season in La Liga was a close battle for the league title with just three points separating Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. All three were very strong at the time with the Catalans ultimately clinching the title, largely thanks to the incredible goalscoring exploits of Luis Suarez. While the Madrid clubs missed out on the main domestic prize, they did both reach the Champions League Final. Read on for the full list of La Liga top scorers 2015-16, as well as the final league table and a look at the players who provided the most assists.
La Liga Top Scorers 2015-16
The list below features every player who scored 10 or more goals in La Liga 2015-16.
Pichichi Trophy Winner – Luis Suarez (Barcelona) – 40 Goals
? Luis Suárez receives 2015/16 #Goldenshoe Award. The full story: https://t.co/Rh7QdSI5yz #FCBlive pic.twitter.com/LOcnfE1Ih5
— FC Barcelona (from ?) (@FCBarcelona) October 20, 2016
While this season fell right in the middle of the Messi/Ronaldo era, this was the only campaign in the 2010’s where one of the dominant duo didn’t win the Pichichi. Instead Luis Suarez was the 2015-16 top scorer in La Liga. The Uruguayan hit top form, scoring 40 of the incredible tally of 90 league goals that the famous MSN trident of Messi, Suarez and Neymar racked up.
Suarez went on an absolutely spectacular goalscoring run towards the end of the campaign to pip Ronaldo to the Pichichi and help Barcelona clinch the title. He remarkably netted four times in back-to-back league games as Barça beat Depor 8-0 at the Riazor before demolishing Sporting Gijon 6-0 at home. Suarez scored 14 times in his final 5 league appearances in the 2015-16 season and would even net a hat-trick in his first La Liga match of the following campaign to extend one of the most extraordinary scoring runs in Spanish football history.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) – 35 Goals
This was Cristiano Ronaldo’s fourth most prolific season in a Real Madrid shirt. He was his usual brilliant self with 35 goals in 36 league appearances for Los Blancos in 2015-16, comfortably outscoring his long-standing nemesis Leo Messi, although the late heroics of Luis Suarez, denied him a third straight Pichichi crown.
3. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) – 26 Goals
Only by his own ridiculously high standards, 2015-16 wasn’t a great season for Leo Messi. Playing on the right side of the famous Barça trident, Messi posted his worst scoring season of the 2010’s, with 26 league goals. His slightly lower tally is largely explained by a knee injury which saw him miss two months of the campaign in late 2015.
4. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) – 24 Goals
Neymar (Barcelona) – 24 Goals
6. Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid) – 22 Goals
7. Aritz Aduriz (Athletic) – 20 Goals
8. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) – 19 Goals
Ruben Castro (Real Betis) – 19 Goals
10. Borja Baston (Eibar) – 18 Goals
Borja Baston pens a thank you letter to #Eibar, ‘the perfect place to develop’ https://t.co/6GaV0g3wfw pic.twitter.com/RjX10MGQSd
— footballespana (@footballespana_) June 8, 2016
11. Lucas Perez (Depor) – 17 Goals
12. Youssef El-Arabi (Granada) – 16 Goals
Kevin Gameiro (Sevilla) – 16 Goals
14. Iago Aspas (Celta) – 14 Goals
15. Agirretxe (Real Sociedad) – 13 Goals
Paco Alcacer (Valencia) – 13 Goals
17. Nolito (Celta Vigo) – 12 Goals
Cedric Bakambu (Villarreal) – 12 Goals
Charles (Malaga) – 12 Goals
Javi Guerra (Rayo Vallecano) – 12 Goals
21. Antonio Sanabria (Sporting) – 11 Goals
Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid) – 11 Goals
23. Jonathan Viera (Las Palmas) – 10 Goals
La Liga 2015/16 Table & each club’s Top Scorer
The table below highlights how dominant the big three were this season with Barcelona and Real Madrid both easing past 100 goals while defensive maestros Atleti finished 24 points clear of 4th place. Villarreal clinched the final Champions League slot despite having no player score more than the 12 league goals chalked up by Cedric Bakambu while Europa League winners Sevilla also secured UCL qualification despite only finishing 7th with Kevin Gameiro top scoring for the Andalusians.
| Points | Goals Scored | Top Scorer | |
| 1) Barcelona | 91 | 112 | Luis Suarez (40) |
| 2) Real Madrid | 90 | 110 | Ronaldo (37) |
| 3) Atletico Madrid | 88 | 63 | Griezmann (22) |
| 4) Villarreal | 64 | 44 | Bakambu (12) |
| 5) Athletic Club | 62 | 58 | Aduriz (20) |
| 6) Celta Vigo | 60 | 51 | Aspas (14) |
| 7) Sevilla | 52 | 51 | Gameiro (16) |
| 8) Malaga | 48 | 38 | Charles (12) |
| 9) Real Sociedad | 48 | 45 | Agirretxe (13) |
| 10) Real Betis | 45 | 34 | Ruben Castro (19) |
| 11) Las Palmas | 44 | 45 | Viera (10) |
| 12) Valencia | 44 | 46 | Alcacer (13) |
| 13) Espanyol | 43 | 40 | Caicedo (8) |
| 14) Eibar | 43 | 49 | Baston (18) |
| 15) Deportivo | 42 | 45 | Lucas Perez (17) |
| 16) Granada | 39 | 46 | El-Arabi (16) |
| 17) Sporting Gijon | 39 | 40 | Sanabria (11) |
| 18) Rayo Vallecano | 38 | 52 | Guerra (12) |
| 19) Getafe | 36 | 37 | Sarabia (7) |
| 20) Levante | 32 | 37 | Deyverson (9) |
There were some standout goalscoring seasons from a number of individuals further down the league too. The likes of Ruben Castro, Youssef El-Arabi and Lucas Perez enjoyed stellar campaigns while this was also the year of one-season wonder Borja Baston. On loan at Eibar from Atleti he registered 18 times in La Liga to help keep the Basque minnows up. It wasn’t enough to convince Diego Simeone though with Baston being sold to Swansea that summer. A club-record signing, Baston would net just once in the Premier League in his debut season for the Swans and has since struggled to revitalise his career during various loan spells.
Despite Getafe’s relegation, this was also something of a breakthrough campaign for Pablo Sarabia. He top scored for the South Madrid side with 7 goals from midfield before joining Sevilla for the bargain fee of just €1million in the summer of 2016.
Transfer Alert: Sevilla completes signing of Pablo Sarabia from Getafe. pic.twitter.com/PKeF2B5VSc
— GolaazoNoticiero (@GolaazoN) June 10, 2016
La Liga Assists 2015-16
The following players registered 10 or more assists in La Liga 2015/16:
Most Assists – Leo Messi & Luis Suarez (both Barcelona) – 16 Assists
Perhaps surprisingly, this list features a number of players who are better known for scoring goals than creating them, not least Luis Suarez who notched up an impressive 16 assists to go with his outstanding goal haul. Suarez and Messi tied for the most assists with 16 apiece and only Koke prevented an ‘MSN’ one-two-three with the Atleti man enjoying one of his best seasons.
3. Koke (Atletico Madrid) – 14 Assists
4. Neymar (Barcelona) – 12 Assists
5. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) – 11 Assists
6. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) – 10 Assists
Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) – 10 Assists
Roberto Soldado (Villarreal) – 10 Assists
Marco Asensio (Espanyol) – 10 Assists
Loan Watch: Marco Asensio scored a brace & provided an assist in Espanyol’s 4-2 home win vs Eibar. pic.twitter.com/0OjudBfGrI
— El Madridismo (@ElMadridismo93) May 15, 2016
Espanyol loanee Marco Asensio is another standout name on this list. Just 19 at the start of the campaign, he was one of the breakout stars of La Liga 2015-16, shining for the Barcelona club in his debut top flight season.
