In this weeks SoccerVista post we want to focus on the Spanish La Liga.
The Spanish football league (La Liga) is one of the top and most highly regarded leagues in world football. It arguably ranks second behind only the glamorous English Premier League in terms of commercialisation, revenue, excitement and attractiveness. While it ranks below the Premier League in the terms mentioned above, it is a bit surprising that the Spanish La Liga is home to the top two biggest clubs in the world, Real Madrid and Barcelona.
After each season of the Spanish La Liga, there is a competition for the League’s highest goalscorer to determine who will receive the prestigious La Liga highest goalscorer award. The Spanish football season’s top scorer is honoured with the [Trofeo Pichichi] by the sports publication Marca. This award is held in high regard by the La Liga players, and it is an honour to lift it.
Ever since the 1952–53 season, when Rafael “Pichichi” Moreno of Athletic Bilbao was a striker for the club, this trophy has been presented to the La Liga highest goalscorer. Marca had given the Pichichi to every top scorer ever, including those from before the trophy was even created.
Argentine wizard Lionel Messi who recently completed football by winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, is the only player ever in the history of the league to have ever won five straight Pichichi top scorer honours, all of which were won while playing for his boyhood club Barcelona. He won the awards from 2016–17 to 2020–21.
La-Liga legends Hugo Sánchez and Alfredo Di Stéfano also won four consecutive Pichichis during their illustrious and highly decorated careers. While Alfredo Di Stéfano played for Royal club Real Madrid, Hugo Sánchez began his career with arch-rivals Atlético Madrid and then moved on to Real Madrid for the last three seasons of his career.
Since then, there have been numerous world-class players to have won the Pichichi Trophy. The likes of Diego Forlan, Ronaldo De Lima, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ferenc Puskás and many more have won the award on multiple occasions.
The competition for the 2023 Trofeo Pichichi Trophy Award is already heating up, with some of the game’s deadliest goal-scorers competing at La Liga’s grandest stage. During the last La Liga season, French hitman Karim Benzema took home the award after scoring a total of twenty-seven goals for Real Madrid.
Even though Benzema has never been the recipient of the Pichichi on more than one occasion in the past, there is a good chance that he will achieve this milestone for the first time in his career this season by winning the prestigious award for a second consecutive year. However, he will have lots of competition from the league’s many talented players due to the fact that there are so many of them willing to push to the last line.
So, which one of the players that are named below by Betting Tips Africa do you believe has the best chance of winning the Pichichi and being La Liga’s highest goalscorer for the year 2023? You can earn additional money by betting on any of the players to win the prestigious award with one of the reputable online sportsbooks featured on Betting Tips Africa.
Robert Lewandowski
The Poland marksman was memorably known worldwide due to his time in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, where he won the league’s highest goalscorer award on multiple occasions. His move to Barcelona was greeted with some sort of surprise as he was part of a Bayern Munich team that consistently whipped Barcelona on the big occasions in the UEFA Champions League.
However, Lewandowski has had a fairly great time in Spain with Barca and has been on fire this season. At the time of this writing, the striker has notched thirteen league goals, five ahead of his closest competitor. Betting veterans know that staking on Lewandowski to win the Pichichi Trophy is a smart decision and they have the opportunity to make money on this with Sportsbooks like Bet365, Betway and Msport offering sweet odds in this regard.
Borja Iglesias
The 29-year-old Spanish goalscorer is sitting in the second position on the Pichichi Trophy rankings with a respectable eight goals for Real Betis. There is no doubt that the Spaniard is in top form, and it is no coincidence that there are rumours linking him with a move to one of the top dogs in La Liga, Atletico Madrid.
While Iglesias has not won the Pichichi Trophy before in his career, his form for Real Betis can not be underestimated in any way. Staking on the Spaniard is quite a risk, but this is football, and a good scoring streak could see him achieve the feat. With a lower probability of occurring (i.e. Iglesias becoming La Liga highest goalscorer), betting on Iglesias and winning would no doubt yield more money through bigger odds, and gamers can take advantage of this with any of the reputable Bookies hosted on Betting Tips Africa.
Vedat Muqiri
Vedat Muriqi is a professional centre-forward from Kosovo who currently plays as a striker for the La Liga club Mallorca as well as the Kosovo national team. Muriqi was born on April 24, 1994. Even though Vedat Muqiri has never been victorious in the Pichichi Trophy competition before in his career, his current target man’s play for Real Betis is not in any way something that should be taken lightly.
The 28-year-old Kosovan target man has already banged in eight goals for his club and sits third behind Borja Iglesias and Robert Lewandowski at the time of this article. Bets placed on the Mallorca striker carry a high degree of uncertainty, but given the nature of the game, it’s possible that he may pull off the accomplishment with a run of fine form in front of goal.
Betting on Muriqi and winning would undoubtedly yield more money due to much bigger odds, and gamers can take advantage of this with any of the reputable Bookies that are hosted on Betting Tips Africa, like Odibets, Sportpesa and more.
Joselu
The 32-year-old German-born giant striker José Luis Mato Sanmartín, known for short as Joselu, has been a revelation for Espanyol this season, banging eight league goals to help his team whilst staying in touch with the top marksmen in the Division. Joselu has been a bit of a journeyman in his career, playing for the likes of Real Madrid, Hoffenheim, Eintracht Frankfurt, Hannover 96, Stoke City, Newcastle United, Alaves, among others and now Espanyol.
Standing at an imposing 6 ft 4 inches, Joselu is naturally a target man, judging by his football abilities. It would be a far risky decision to bet on him winning the prestigious Pichichi Trophy. However, if it happens, one could make a fortune from the huge odds associated with this kind of bet.
Karim Benzema
The current holder of the Pichichi Trophy is still a formidable opponent for anyone making a charge at winning the award this season. Despite an injury curtailing Benzema’s Qatar World Cup, he has returned stronger and has already got eight La Liga goals to his name.
With the amazing wealth of attacking options like Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, Luka Modric, Eduardo Camavinga and others available to him at Real Madrid, it is a good bet to stake on Benzema going on a goalscoring spree to become the La Liga highest goalscorer and thus clinching the Pichichi Trophy for a second consecutive time.
Reputable Bookies like PremierBet and Supabets are offering good odds to gamers on this event.
