Griezmann: objective Pichichi
The Atlético striker has hit six goals in his first six Liga outings and currently leads the scoring charts. He bagged 22 in each of the past two seasons.
Antoine Griezmann has got off to a flying start to the Liga season, finding the net six times in his first six games to move to the top of the Pichichi standing ahead of Barcelona’s Luis Suárez, who has bagged five so far.
Forlán precedent
Although there is a long way to go Griezmann is in a state of grace and on the horizon is Diego Forlán, the last Atlético player to win the award for Liga top scorer. The Uruguayan striker did so in 2008-09 with 32 goals, ahead of Samuel Eto’o, who netted 30 for Barcelona in the same season. Forlán’s haul also earned him the European Golden Boot, the second of his career after he shared the gong with Thierry Henry in 2004-05 while at Villarreal.
Diego Costa, Falcao fell short
Griezmann has scored 22 goals in each of his last two campaigns at Atlético, considerably short of Suárez’s 40 last season and Cristiano Ronaldo’s 48 the year before. In recent seasons Atlético players have scored prolifically but been unable to end the season at the top of the pile: Diego Costa bagged 27 in 2013-14, just four short of the mark that saw Ronaldo and Suárez share the spoils as Europe’s top domestic marksman, while Radamel Falcao popped in 28 in 2012-13 and 24 the season before that but came up against Leo Messi, who netted 46 and 50 in the same years.
Eight Atlético Pichichis
If Griezmann, who has 50 goals in 81 Liga games for Atlético at an average of 0.62 per game, achieves the feat he will become the ninth Atlético player to be awarded the Pichichi trophy since its inception in 1929. The other colchoneros to win the award are Pruden, José Eulogio Gárate (3), Luis Aragonés, Hugo Sánchez, Baltazar, Manolo, Christian Vieri and Forlán.