Lionel Messi

A report on the Real Madrid official website today claims that Gonzalo Higuain is the most efficient striker in La Liga.

Simply calculating the goals per minute of players in the top Spanish division, the Real Madrid website concluded that Gonzalo Higuain scores every 74 minutes whilst Lionel Messi only hits the back of the net every 88 minutes. The results can be seen here.

With the title race in Spain neck and neck and following another evening of high drama where Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain both scored hat-tricks, we decided to delve into the IMScouting database to see which attacking players in Spain are the most efficient.

(Messi's hat-trick can be seen here, Higuain's here.)

As can be seen below, the two in-form Argentinean forwards do come first and second, but unlike Real Madrid.com, IMScouting crowns Lionel Messi the most effective attacking player in Spanish football.

Using goals and assists to decide who is the most effective attacking player shows that Lionel Messi , as well as being the top goal scorer in Spain, on average scores or sets up a team mate every 59.90 minutes.

Higuain, by virtue of being more of a poacher than Messi, comes in second having claimed 19 goals and three assists and his average comes out at 61.55. The former River Plate striker proves what a great season he has had by comfortably beating fellow Real Madrid team mates Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafael van der Vaart.

Next on the report is Barcelona’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic followed by Karim Benzema of Real Madrid who has often been left out the Los Blancos first team in favour of Gonzalo Higuain .

Other players to bag a spot include David Villa , Luis Fabiano , Humberto Suazo and Guti . Suazo in particular has done well to make an impression in Spain since joining Real Zaragoza in January.

IMScouting’s Player Efficiency reports include players who have appeared in a minimum of 500 minutes in the league and equally values a goal or assist. A player's efficiency is valued at how often he has produced a goal or assist.

You can also calculate your own reports at the IMScouting report generator, which creates instant comparisons of players and teams from every league in the world.