LaLiga Santander Striking comparison with Ronaldo et al.

LaLiga is experiencing something of a shake-up among its goalscoring stars but one man has managed to remain a constant force as the 2017/18 seasons kicks into gear: Lionel Messi.

A look atop the Pichichi leaderboard after 11 games sees the Barcelona talisman leading the way with 12 goals, and after Messi comes Simone Zaza on nine and Cedric Bakambu on eight, with Rodrigo Moreno and Antonio Sanabria on seven.

All these players are highly-rated and turn out for decent clubs, but they are not considered to be top class stars among the globe's elite performers. To find those familiar names, one must look much further down the chart.

Boasting just one goal apiece in LaLiga are Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Kevin Gameiro with Antoine Griezmann, Gareth Bale and Wissam Ben Yedder on two and Luis Suarez racking up a mere three strikes.

Therefore, these seven strikers have only scored 12 goals between them, the same as Messi has managed on his own.

Some of these names have experienced a big drop off from last season, such as Ronaldo who had banged in five goals from eight games at this stage of the season in 2016/17, a return at the time considered to be below his usual standards.

Benzema, too, has failed to match last year's numbers with three to his name at this point 12 months ago, while Griezmann had notched six strikes.

By far the biggest reduction in form, however, comes at the Camp Nou as Messi's teammate Suarez reaches a tally of three goals, five less than he'd managed after 11 weeks of 2016/17.