Suarez breaks Ronaldo-Messi axis to claim Pichichi award

Luis Suarez became the first player not named Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to win the Pichichi award in seven years, recording 40 goals to finish as La Liga's top scorer.

His contributions proved invaluable in the final few weeks of the season. He managed 14 goals in his final five league matches of 2015-16 - including a hat trick in Saturday's 3-0 win over Granada - to ensure Barcelona wouldn't lose any more ground to arch-rival Real Madrid in the title race.

Simply put, when Ronaldo scored, so did Suarez. The Uruguayan set the pace and kept it.

Teammates Messi and Neymar were happy to play the role of the distributor, and Suarez - who admitted earlier this week that he never envisioned scoring this much - was allowed to run riot.

Only Messi and Ronaldo have reached the 40-goal mark before in La Liga history. Diego Forlan was the last player to take home the scoring honour before Messi and Ronaldo's reign, registering 32 tallies during the 2008-09 season with Atletico Madrid.