La Liga Top Scorers 2016-17

May 4, 2020 LaLiga Expert Spanish Football History
La Liga top scorers 2016-17

The 2016/2017 season in La Liga was the final one in which Barcelona’s MSN trident terrorised Spanish defences before Neymar’s move to Paris. The trio contributed to a mammoth tally of 116 Barça league goals, however it wasn’t enough to secure the title in what was also Luis Enrique’s final season at the helm. Instead Zinedine Zidane’s extensive rotation policy paid dividends as Real Madrid secured both the league and Champions League crowns. Read on for the full list of La Liga top scorers 2016-17, plus the final league table and a look at the players who provided the most assists.

La Liga Top Scorers 2016-17

The list below features every player who scored 10 or more goals in La Liga 2016-17

Pichichi Trophy Winner – Lionel Messi (Barcelona) – 37 Goals

Leo Messi was in devastating form for most of the 2016-17 season, comfortably winning the Pichichi with 37 goals, 11 more than he’d managed the previous year. His return averaged out to one every 77 minutes in La Liga, although surprisingly this was the first time in four years that Messi had finished as La Liga’s top scorer with Cristiano Ronaldo and teammate Luis Suarez having denied him in the years prior. His tally included a famous late winner at the Bernabeu in a crucial Clasico in April which breathed new life into the title race but with both sides winning every game after that, Los Blancos hung on to clinch the title.

2. Luis Suarez (Barcelona) – 29 Goals

Luis Suarez couldn’t quite replicate his extraordinary 40 goal haul in 2015-16 despite scoring a hat-trick on the opening weekend against Betis. 29 goals was still an excellent return though for the Uruguayan who continued to act as the central point of the MSN trident throughout the campaign, although neither his nor Messi’s goalscoring exploits were enough to secure one of the big two prizes for Barcelona. They did at least win the Copa del Rey with Suarez netting key goals in both legs of the decisive Semi-Final against Atletico Madrid.

3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) – 25 Goals

By his standards, 25 goals was a below-par tally for Cristiano Ronaldo but this was the first season in which he was frequently rested. The Portuguese started just 29 of Real Madrid’s 38 league games as a result and with Alvaro Morata acting as a capable deputy in La Liga, the approach paid off as Ronaldo remained fresh to score an outstanding 12 Champions League goals as Los Blancos defended their European crown.

4. Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo) – 19 Goals

5. Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Club) – 16 Goals

Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid) – 16 Goals

7. Alvaro Morata (Real Madrid) – 15 Goals

8. Sandro Ramirez (Malaga) – 14 Goals

9. Ruben Castro (Betis) – 13 Goals

Neymar (Barcelona) – 13 Goals

Gerard Moreno (Espanyol) – 13 Goals

12. Florin Andone (Deportivo) – 12 Goals

Willian Jose (Real Sociedad) – 12 Goals

Kevin Gameiro (Atletico Madrid) – 12 Goals

15. Cedric Bakambu (Villarreal) – 11 Goals

Wissam Ben Yedder (Sevilla) – 11 Goals

Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) – 11 Goals

Sergi Enrich (Eibar) – 11 Goals

Juanmi (Real Sociedad) – 11 Goals

20. Isco (Real Madrid) – 10 Goals

Kevin-Prince Boateng (Las Palmas) – 10 Goals

Yannick Carrasco (Atletico Madrid) – 10 Goals

Raul Garcia (Athletic Club) – 10 Goals

Sergio Leon (Osasuna) – 10 Goals

Pablo Piatti (Espanyol) – 10 Goals

Pedro Leon (Eibar) – 10 Goals

La Liga 2016/17 Table & each club’s Top Scorer

The 2016/17 Spanish football season was essentially a two-horse title race in La Liga and while Atletico Madrid improved on their previous season’s goal tally, they ended up with 10 fewer points, 15 shy of champions Real Madrid. Antoine Griezmann top scored for Atleti with 16 goals while Aritz Aduriz, who turned 36 during the season had another fine campaign, also scoring 16 goals for Athletic Club. The likes of Sevilla, Villarreal and particularly Valencia struggled for consistent goal threats though with no player scoring more than 6 times in La Liga during a really poor campaign for Los Che.

Points Goals Scored Top Scorer
1) Real Madrid 93 106 Ronaldo (29)
2) Barcelona 90 116 Messi (37)
3) Atletico Madrid 78 70 Griezmann (16)
4) Sevilla 72 69 Ben Yedder (11)
5) Villarreal 67 56 Bakambu (11)
6) Real Sociedad 64 59 Willian Jose (12)
7) Athletic Club 63 53 Aduriz (16)
8) Espanyol 56 49 Gerard Moreno (13)
9) Alaves 55 41 Deyverson (7)
10) Eibar 54 56 Sergi Enrich (11)
11) Malaga 46 49 Sandro Ramirez (14)
12) Valencia 46 56 Munir, Zaza, Mina (6)
13) Celta Vigo 45 53 Aspas (19)
14) Las Palmas 39 53 Boateng (10)
15) Real Betis 39 41 Ruben Castro (13)
16) Deportivo 36 43 Andone (12)
17) Leganes 35 36 Szymanowski (8)
18) Sporting Gijon 31 42 Cop (9)
19) Osasuna 22 40 Sergio Leon (10)
20) Granada 20 30 Pereira, Kravets, Carcela (5)

At the wrong end of the table, it was a desperate season for Osasuna and Granada with the latter ending the campaign under the stewardship of Tony Adams. Top flight debutants Leganes narrowly beat the drop with the talented Alexander Szymanowski scoring eight goals. Sadly injuries would prevent him from featuring much in subsequent seasons for the Butarque club.

2016/17 was also Sandro Ramirez’s solitary hot goal scoring season for Malaga. The former Barcelona man netted 14 league goals to secure a summer move to Everton but his career spectacularly nose-dived after that. Sandro failed to score a single league goal not only for Everton but also for his next two clubs in Spain – Sevilla and Real Sociedad, before finally breaking his goal drought in the 2019/20 season at Real Valladolid.

The top scorer outside of the ‘big two’ was Iago Aspas who fired in 19 goals for Celta Vigo but it was only enough to help the Galicians into a final position of 13th with their fine Europa League run having a detrimental effect on their domestic form.

La Liga Assists 2016-17

The following players registered 10 or more assists in La Liga 2016/17 (data according to whoscored):

Most Assists – Luis Suarez (Barcelona) – 13 Assists

Luis Suarez again proved there was far more to his game than just goals, chipping in with 13 assists to hit a total of 42 goal involvements in La Liga. That was one more than Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos who again reached double figures for assists.

2. Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) – 12 Assists

3. Neymar (Barcelona) – 11 Assists

4. Pablo Piatti (Espanyol) – 10 Assists

Marcelo (Real Madrid) – 10 Assists

Marcelo also had one of his best seasons down the left flank for Real Madrid (with 12 assists in all competitions) while Pablo Piatti is the surprise name in this list. The mercurial Argentine had a fabulous campaign with 10 goals and 10 assists in his first at the RCDE Stadium following his move from Valencia. However he couldn’t maintain that level over the long-term with a very disappointing overall total of just 3 goals and 3 assists in the next 3 seasons combined.

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