Top 10 players in La Liga history with the most match-winners: Messi, Ronaldo…
La Liga has been graced by some of the best players in the history of football, including legends at Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are considered by many as the top two players of all time and there was a period in which they went toe-to-toe every week in front of our eyes in one of the greatest periods in football history.
Outside of them, there are, of course, an insane amount of incredible figures from the league’s inception in 1927 to the present day and we’ve decided to look at which players have the most match-winning goals in La Liga history.
Note: When two players have the same total, the player with the higher goals tally gets the edge.
10. Luis Suarez – 56
Suarez somehow managed to build upon his incredible final season at Liverpool (considered to be one of the best individual campaigns in Premier League history) by elevating Barcelona to a treble.
The Uruguayan did this while also managing to net 50+ goals in one campaign to steal the European Golden Shoe away from both Messi and Ronaldo in their prime.
He won four league titles at Barcelona and managed an incredible title with Atletico Madrid after being told to leave by the Catalan club.
Arguably the best striker of his generation, outside of the obvious two, Suarez’s 32% of match-winners is a fine statistic.
9. Luis Aragones – 58
Aragones was a star player for Atletico Madrid in the 1960s, managing to win three league titles and leading his side to the European Cup final.
He stands as the club’s second all-time leading scorer and managed 160 goals in the league for three clubs.
His 36% figure sees him sit second in terms of the percentage of match winners, which is a brilliant record for a forward at the top level, and he picked up one top scorer award.
Aragones went on to be a successful coach as well and a true legend of Spanish football.
8. Quini – 58
One man who had a stunning record was Quini, who was revered for his spell at Sporting Gijon in the 1970s.
With 219 goals in total, he sits high on the all-time list and his 26% figure falls lower than most on this list but not many can match his top scorer tally of five top scorer awards.
Two more came in the Segunda Division, but he is known as one of the greatest goalscorers in Spanish history, representing his country at one European Championship and two World Cups.
Despite all of those achievements, he never won the title despite earning a move to Barcelona. Quini would win five trophies at Camp Nou.
7. Santillana – 67
Sitting extremely high on this list with a 36% match-winning percentage, Santillana was a true legend during his career in the 1970s and 1980s.
A Real Madrid hero, he is one of the club’s all-time top scorers.
His haul of nine league titles is extraordinary, and while he was never a top scorer in the Spanish top-flight, he was a consistent figure and enjoyed six other trophy successes.
6. Karim Benzema – 67
The 2022 Ballon d’Or winner was often seen as the understudy to the great attackers at Madrid, and his selflessness in providing for the likes of Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, and others allowed the team to flourish.
However, Benzema was a serial scorer himself with 238 goals and 28% of those were match-winners.
He won four La Liga titles, with his first coming 11 years after his first, and he was a two-time Player of the Season in Spain as well.
The standout campaign was clearly the 2021-22 season when he dazzled with curling efforts, stunning strikes and big moments, but he was a true all-round scorer of the highest level.
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5. Raul – 72
One of the most natural goal-scorers that Spain or La Liga has ever seen, Raul originally broke all the records before the two god-like figures of Messi and Ronaldo came along.
With 228 goals and six league titles, his legacy was incredible and the forward never received a red card in his career.
Also a runner-up in the 2001 Ballon d’Or to Michael Owen, Raul managed a 32% match-winning goal rate in La Liga and picked up two top goalscorer awards as well during his incredible career.
4. Antoine Griezmann – 76
The only player still active in La Liga, Griezmann is a La Liga legend for his efforts at Real Sociedad, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
While the move to Barca failed to ignite, the World Cup winner still scored some tremendous goals, but, surprisingly, he was never a league champion.
However, 38% of his goals were match-winners, which is an astounding figure.
Griezmann was a smart enough player to play across multiple roles. He deserves all the praise and more, and his career has been masterful overall.
3. Hugo Sanchez – 81
Sanchez was revered for his technical prowess and his ability to score spectacular goals. The striker proved it across spells for Atletico, Real Madrid and Rayo Vallecano in the 1980s and 1990s.
With 234 goals in total, he sits on the all-time list, and 35% of his goals coming as match-winners places him high on this list.
His overall career record of 562 senior career goals for both club and country in 956 matches makes Sanchez arguably the best Mexican footballer ever.
Sanchez also won five league titles and a Spanish Cup with Atletico, alongside all his trophies at Madrid.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo – 88
If he wasn’t first, then he had to place second; Ronaldo was an instant hit from the second he stepped onto the hallowed turf at the Bernabeu in 2009.
The relentless goalscoring machine went on to net 311 times and lead his side to two league titles while he grabbed the top scorer award on three occasions.
In total, 28% of his goals were match-winners, which places him fairly high on the list, and his most fruitful season came in the 2014-15 campaign, netting 48 goals in 38 games with 61 in all competitions.
READ MORE: Comparing Messi and Ronaldo’s stats over their last 100 appearances
1. Lionel Messi – 124
Who else? Messi has more match winners than most players have goals, and he tops this list with ease despite the incredible names that feature.
As with these lists, the top figure is usually the top scorer in the competition’s history, as he is here, and 26% of his strikes were match-winners.
None were more epic than the stoppage-time winners in the El Clasico against Madrid at the Bernabeu in 2017.
With his side chasing victory, he appeared from nowhere to curl in a brilliant low effort before then holding his shirt to the fans to create one of the most iconic photos of all time.
He also won 10 league titles, holds the record for most goals scored in a single season with 50 in the 2011–12 campaign, and is the only player ever to win the league’s top scorer award in eight different seasons. Wow.