La Liga: Seven Candidates to the Pichichi Award

La Liga is the stage for some of most talented attacking players in the world: Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, David Villa, Cristiano Ronaldo...

With so many talented players, especially attacking players, it is difficult to predict who is going to be the best scorer and win the Pichichi award.

Will Lionel Messi retain his title? Will David Villa finally win this trophy? Or will the trophy stay in Madrid with either Cristiano Ronaldo or Gonzalo Higuain? Or will it be another player to win it?

Let's take a look at the seven main contenders (in my opinion) and analyse their chances.

Fernando Llorente

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JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - JULY 11: Fernando Llorente of Spain carries the World Cup trophy as the Spain team celebrate victory following the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Final match between Netherlands and Spain at Soccer City Stadium on July 11,

The 25-year-old Bilbao striker will be looking to improve on the 14 goals he scored last season. He is now more mature and maybe finally ready to become one of the best goal scorers in Spain.

His chances aren't very high, especially because he has very strong competition and because he is on a team that won't score as many goals as the top teams. Still, even if he doesn't win the Pichichi, scoring more than 20 goals is a perfectly achievable target for Llorente.

A high-scoring season might attract the interest of some European giants. Llorente is too good a striker to be playing for a team with such limited ambitions as Athletic Bilbao.

Luis Fabiano

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SEVILLE, SPAIN - MAY 27: Luis Fabiano (L) of Sevilla beats Gabi Milito of Zaragoza during the Primera Liga match between Sevilla and Real Zaragoza at the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium on May 27, 2007 in Seville, Spain. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

Luis Fabiano is undoubtedly one of the best and most underrated strikers in the world. Despite rumours of a transfer to a bigger club, Luis Fabiano is staying at Sevilla.

In his highest scoring season, he scored 24 goals in 30 league matches. He actually never played more than 30 matches in a league season—some injuries have kept him from scoring even more goals.

He is not the main favorite to win the Pichichi award, but if he manages to stay healthy for the entire season, he is likely to contend for it.

It's a shame that Luis Fabiano still hasn't managed a move to a European giant (no offense to Sevilla). Maybe next summer...

Cristiano Ronaldo

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MADRID, SPAIN - AUGUST 24: Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid in action during the Santiago Bernabeu Trophy match between Real Madrid and Penarol at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on August 24, 2010 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

After an excellent first season in Spain, Cristiano Ronaldo must be considered a candidate to the Pichichi this season. He is currently injured but he'll be back into action soon.

In normal conditions, Cristiano Ronaldo will be one of the top scorers at the end of the season. Still, it remains to be seen whether or not Cristiano Ronaldo will be able to score as many goals under Mourinho (known for his defensive tactics) as he did last season.

Knowing Cristiano Ronaldo, we know that he would like nothing more than to outscore (especially) Lionel Messi and get the Pichichi award. It will be an extremely difficult task for the Portuguese player though.

Gonzalo Higuain

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PASADENA, CA - AUGUST 07: Gonzalo Higuain #20 of Real Madrid during the pre-season friendly soccer match against Los Angeles Galaxy on August 7, 2010 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Real Madrid will travel back to Spain after the soccer match c

Another Real Madrid player. Higuain has even (a lot) more chances than Cristiano Ronaldo to win the Pichichi. At 22-years old, Higuain is already one of the top strikers in the world.

He scored 22 goals in 2008/2009 and 27 in 2009/2010 (outscoring teammate Cristiano Ronaldo). Only the most talented player of this generation, Lionel Messi, stood between Higuain's 27 goals and the Pichichi award last season.

If he manages to keep his form for the whole season, "El Pipita" is one of the strongest candidates to the Pichichi award this season, even if he has to share goal-scoring duties with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Diego Forlán

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MONACO - AUGUST 27: Diego Forlan of Atletico Madrid competes for the ball during the UEFA Super Cup between Inter and Atletico Madrid at Louis II Stadium on August 27, 2010 in Monaco, Monaco. (Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images)

At 31-years old, Diego Forlán is in the form of his life and was recently considered the best player in the South African World Cup.

Forlán has already won this trophy twice (2004/2005 with Villarreal and 2008/2009 with Atletico Madrid) and is again one of the main candidates. In the first match of the season, Atletico won 4-0 and Forlán scored twice. A great start for the Uruguayan striker.

Playing alongside such a talented player as Sergio Aguero will help Forlán score even more goals, just like in 2008/2009, where he scored 32 goals in 33 matches. Aguero and Forlán are one of the best attacking duos in the world. If you add Simão and Reyes, Atletico have one of the best attacking lineups in Europe.

That said, Forlán has all it takes to win the Pichichi award this season.

Lionel Messi

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SANTANDER, SPAIN - AUGUST 29: Lionel Messi of Barcelona waits for play to resume during the La Liga match between Racing Santander and Barcelona at El Sardinero stadium on August 29, 2010 in Santander, Spain. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

This is a no-brainer. After equaling Ronaldo's 34-goal record last season, Messi will be looking to improve on his performance. Apparently, he has everything it takes to do it. Currently, he is perhaps the most feared goal-scorer in the world and it's a big surprise when his name doesn't appear in the score sheet.

This season, however, Messi will have to share the goals with David Villa and it is expected the he might assume more of a playmaking role. Last season, Ibrahimovic's disappointing performances forced Messi to score a lot more than usual.

This season, with David Villa, Messi shouldn't score as much, but should set up many more goals.

David Villa

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SANTANDER, SPAIN - AUGUST 29: David Villa of Barcelona waits for play to resume during the La Liga match between Racing Santander and Barcelona at El Sardinero stadium on August 29, 2010 in Santander, Spain. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

As far as I'm concerned, David Villa is the favorite to win this award. He has never won it before, but has come quite close on several occasions.

With the quality services of Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, and Messi, David Villa should score more goals than ever and claim this award. Breaking his 28-goal record (2008/2009) is perfectly possible.

Villa has everything to be a success story at Barcelona. The Pichichi award is his for the taking.