There has been some significant movement in the past 12 months.
Football’s top scorer of the last decade has been revealed. The king remains the king, but his lead is slipping.
Given that we were moving from 2020, last year, there were a lot of ‘end of the decade’ lists compiled that took us from 2011 to 2020.
At the start of the season, the good folks at transfermarkt put together their Top 10 scorers across elite leagues from 2011 until the end of the 2020/21 season.
Now, with the year winding down, that list has been updated with all goals from league and international action for the first few months of the 2021/22 season. The top four has not changed, but Edinson Cavani has company in the No.5 slot.
Top scorer of the last decade retains his crown
Although Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more career goals than Lionel Messi over the course of both their careers, the Argentinean leads the Manchester United star over the past decade. The gap is narrowing, though.
Messi started the season 29 goals clear of Ronaldo, but that gap is down to 23 now. Ronaldo has found the net with more frequency (seven goals) for United than Messi (one league goal) has at Paris Saint Germain since their summer moves.
One man in hot pursuit of both Messi and Ronaldo is Robert Lewandowski. The Polish striker has been in superb form for Bayern Munich in 2021. He has scored 43 goals in the Bundesliga in the past 12 months.
Elsewhere Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could do with any kind of pick-me-up after being dropped by Arsenal and stripped of their captaincy. What he does have going for him is a jump into the Top 5 – level with Cavani – after his seven goals for the Gunners this season.
Top 10 best goalscorers 2011-2021
- Lionel Messi – 356 goals
- Cristiano Ronaldo – 333
- Robert Lewandowski – 289
- Luis Suarez – 240
- Pierre-Emerick Aubamayeng & Edinson Cavani – 201
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic – 190
- Sergio Aguero – 185
- Karim Benzema – 183
- Gonzalo Higuain – 180
In terms of players that may may crack into that Top 10 by the end of 2022, Ciro Immobile (173 goals), Harry Kane (168) and Mohamed Salah (153) are not too far off.
Looking at the next generation of goalscorers, Kylian Mbappe has 116 top league goals, Erling Haaland has 70 and Dusan Vlahovic has 53 in his last two and a half seasons with Fiorentina.
Still, the lads are long way sort of Conor McManus and the GAA boys…
