logo
logo
Karim Benzema of Real Madrid celebrates after scoring the 4-1 during the La Liga match between Real Madrid and Valencia CF played at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on January 8, 2022 in Madrid, Spain.

The 10 players with the most goals & assists in Europe in 21-22: Salah 4th…

Planet Football •

Most attacking players either create goals or score goals – but Liverpool and Real Madrid stars were among the forwards to do both in 2021-22.

Using data from transfermarkt, here’s a list of the top 10 players from Ligue 1, the Bundesliga, Premier League, La Liga and Serie A in terms of their combined goals and assists contributions.

Note: where players are tied on goals and assists, we’ve listed them in order of their minutes-per-goal-contribution rate.

=10. Vinicius Junior

It felt like forever that we’d been wondering how good Vinicius could be if he could just add end product to his wonderfully dynamic and skilful game.

Well, we wonder no more. The Brazil international registered 17 goals and 13 assists in 35 appearances as Real Madrid reclaimed the La Liga title in 2022.

READ: Don’t f*ck with Vinicius Jr… he’ll crush your soul with nutmeg goals

=10. Wissam Ben Yedder

Since joining Monaco from Sevilla in the summer of 2019, Ben Yedder has gone from strength to strength, and he hit new heights in 2021-22.

The 31-year-old outscored the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Moussa Dembele and showcased his clinical finishing by netting 25 goals from just 72 shots in Ligue 1.

He also set up five goals for his team-mates as Monaco finished third behind PSG and Marseille.

=10. Erling Haaland

Haaland probably won’t look back on the 2021-22 season with much fondness as injuries limited him to just 24 Bundesliga appearances.

The striker still managed to score 22 league goals for Borussia Dortmund and also chucked in eight assists for good measure. That works out as a goal contribution every 63.8 minutes.

Manchester City have won the race for his signature and Premier League defenders are already having nightmares.

=7. Son Heung-min

Son enjoyed the most productive season of his career in 2021-22, scoring 23 goals in 35 league appearances to win the Premier League Golden Boot.

Alongside Vinicius Junior, the South Korea international is the only other player on this list that didn’t score a single goal from the penalty spot in 2021-22.

He’s also renowned for his iconic partnership with Harry Kane and set up nine goals for his Tottenham team-mates over the course of the season.

=7. Domenico Berardi

Sassuolo’s rise from lower-league obscurity to Serie A staples is one of the more heartwarming stories in European football and, in Berardi, they possess one of Europe’s prime goal and assist generators.

The 27-year-old, who has formed a great partnership with fellow Italy international Gianluca Scamacca, registered 15 goals and 17 assists in Serie A during the 2021-22 season.

According to reports, his impressive performances for Sassuolo have moved him to the top of AC Milan’s transfer wish list.

5. Christopher Nkunku

One of the few players to perform for RB Leipzig while they were struggling under Jesse Marsch in the first half of the campaign, Nkunku showed he arguably deserves to be playing at a bigger club when he scored all three goals in their 6-3 Champions League defeat to Manchester City back in September.

Since Marsch was replaced by Domenico Tedesco in December, Nkunku has established himself as one of Europe’s best creators and most deadly finishers.

The 24-year-old managed 19 goals and 15 assists in 33 Bundesliga appearances. There’ll be no shortage of suitors this summer, you’d imagine.

4. Mohamed Salah

The “best player in the world” according to totally unbiased pundit Jamie Carragher, Salah made a pretty convincing argument throughout 2021-22, although his form did tail off just that little bit at the end of the season.

Whether it was dancing through Watford’s shoddy defence, dancing through Manchester City’s much better defence or humiliating Manchester United with a hat-trick at Old Trafford, the Liverpool winger was an absolute joy to watch.

With 23 goals and 14 assists to his name, he also won the Premier League Golden Boot and their Playmaker of the Season award.

Liverpool will be hoping that his protracted contract saga is sorted out sharpish.

=3. Robert Lewandowski

No list involving goalscoring would be complete without Lewandowski, who continued where he left off in terms of his last blistering, record-breaking campaign in the Bundesliga.

The Bayern Munich striker scored 35 goals (plus four assists) in 34 Bundesliga appearances in 2021-22. It’s testament to his ridiculous ability that bettering a goal a game is actually kind of predictable.

He might not have finished top of this list, but his 35 goals did help him win another European Golden Shoe.

=3. Karim Benzema

La Liga might have lost Messi, but King Karim has stepped up to fill the void in terms of box-office strikers delivering the goods.

The striker had a direct hand in just under half of Real Madrid’s 80 league goals in 2021-22, registering 27 goals and 12 assists in 32 La Liga appearances.

This isn’t even counting his 10 Champions League knockout stage goals as Madrid produced astonishing comebacks against PSG, Chelsea and Manchester City to reach the final.

Difference-maker.

1. Kylian Mbappe

At just 23 years of age, Mbappe has already won the World Cup and multiple league titles and is widely regarded as one of the best players in the world.

The France international scored 28 goals in 35 Ligue 1 matches in 2021-22 while also laying on 19 strikes for his PSG team-mates.

Ten of those goal contributions came in the space of a week as he scored twice and registered three assists in a 5-1 victory over Lorient before netting a hat-trick and setting up two goals six days later in a 6-1 win over Clermont Foot.

It’s easy to see why PSG worked so hard to fend off interest from Real Madrid and keep him at the Parc des Princes.

More from Planet Football

Mbappe’s divine trivela-Messi assist crowned Europe’s new king creator

The five players who left Chelsea alongside Mohamed Salah in 2016

The top 10 most valuable players outside Europe’s big five leagues

Can you name Real Madrid’s top 20 Champions League goalscorers?

Bundesliga Ligue 1 Premier League Serie A Quick Reads Bayern Munich Liverpool Real Madrid