The top 10 goalscorers in Europe since 2000: Kane 5th, Messi or Ronaldo No.1?
Who are the greatest goalscorers of the modern era?
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo unsurprisingly occupy the top two for most goals scored in Europe’s major leagues (Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1, Serie A and Bundesliga) since the year 2000. But who is top? And which other superstars feature?
Here are the 10 players who have scored the most goals across Europe’s five major leagues since 2000.
10. Gonzalo Higuain – 237 goals
Kylian Mbappe (214 goals in Ligue 1 and La Liga) is closing in on a place on this list, while it’s surely only a matter of time that Erling Haaland (152 goals in the Bundesliga and Premier League) is up there amongst these modern-day goalscoring greats.
But for now, Higuain rounds out our top 10. A name that might surprise you, given the criticism he received over the years.
He had an unfortunate tendency to miss big chances on the international stage, and the less said about his Chelsea stint the better, but you can’t argue with over a hundred La Liga goals for Real Madrid before wonderfully prolific spells in Serie A with Napoli and Juventus.
9. Luis Suarez – 247 goals
El Pistolero would be a few places higher in this list if the Eredivisie counted as one of Europe’s top leagues.
He scored 91 goals in the Dutch top flight before joining Liverpool in 2011, and for about a decade his numbers went stratospheric.
The Uruguayan fired the Reds’ surprise title charge under Brendan Rodgers and went on to win five La Liga titles in eight years with Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
Suarez boasted seven 20+ goal seasons in Spain and England and broke Messi and Ronaldo’s duopoly of the European Golden Shoe in 2015-16 with an outrageous tally of 40 La Liga goals.
8. Sergio Aguero – 260 goals
The 10 players on this list have scored thousands upon thousands of league goals between them.
Of those, it’s fair to say that Aguero’s against QPR is the most monumental and memorable – and by some distance, too.
The vast majority of Aguero’s 26o goals were in the Premier League for Manchester City, but he also notched 74 as a youngster in La Liga for Atletico Madrid and capped off his glittering career with one goal for Barcelona in El Clasico.
7. Edinson Cavani – 267 goals
Two hundred and fifty of these goals were scored in El Matador’s prime years in Serie A and Ligue 1, banging them in with outrageous regularity for Napoli and PSG.
Surprisingly 20 goals ahead of his former Uruguay strike partner Suarez, Cavani notched a further 12 goals in the Premier League and five in La Liga in his twilight years.
6. Karim Benzema – 281 goals
You wonder if King Karim might’ve been a few places higher in this list had he not spent eight peak years as a supporting act for Ronaldo.
He’ll have few regrets, given that devastating combination helped yield four Champions League trophies for Real Madrid, but his best goalscoring seasons tended to be as the main man. First when breaking through at Lyon and then as Los Blancos’ talisman in the post-Ronaldo era.
QUIZ: Can you name the top 50 goalscorers across Europe’s major leagues since 2000?
5. Harry Kane – 283 goals
The England captain would surely have broken Alan Shearer’s Premier League goalscoring record had he stuck around, but now he’s chasing records in the Bundesliga instead.
Kane scored 213 goals in 320 appearances in the English top flight for Tottenham and has upped his strike rate at the Bundesliga’s dominant force, Bayern Munich.
He’s got a better than a goal per game record out in Germany – 70 goals in just 67 outings.
Still only 32, we’d be surprised if he doesn’t notch at least a further hundred league goals to one day sit third in this list. First or second are probably out of reach, though.
4. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – 301 goals
Like his old PSG team-mate Cavani – an unstoppable front two on their day – Ibra is only missing the Bundesliga to complete the European set.
It’s not easy to imagine him racking up a few titles and god knows how many goals for Bayern Munich in a different life.
He scored 156 goals in Serie A, 113 in Ligue 1, 17 in the Premier League and 16 during his one-season stint in La Liga with Barcelona.
That’s not to mention the nearly 100 league goals he scored in MLS, Sweden and the Netherlands and 50+ in UEFA competitions.
3. Robert Lewandowski – 382 goals
Very comfortably third, there can be no questioning Lewandowski’s status as the third greatest goalscorer of the modern era.
His exceptional, goal-laden career deserved recognition with the Ballon d’Or and it remains a minor scandal that the award was cancelled when it was surely his after his treble-winning 2019-20 campaign.
Now 37, finally slowing down and into the final year of his contract with Barcelona, it’ll be interesting to see whether he can become the third footballer in history to break the 400-goal mark across Europe’s top leagues.
Whatever happens from here, his legacy is secure. This outrageous tally of goals has been crucial in him winning two league titles with Borussia Dortmund, eight with Bayern Munich and two with Barcelona.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo – 495 goals
Sorry, Ronny, the Portuguese Primeira Liga doesn’t count as one of Europe’s top leagues.
If it did, his three league goals as a teenager for boyhood club Sporting Lisbon would’ve inched him into the top spot.
That’s gonna sting.
1. Lionel Messi – 496 goals
“Don’t write about him, don’t try to describe him, just watch him,” says Pep Guardiola.
That puts us in a tricky spot, seen as that’s kind of what we’re all about, but we can’t disagree.
Somehow Messi’s 496 La Liga and Ligue 1 goals don’t quite do justice to what a special footballer he is.
READ NEXT: The 10 players with the most goals + assists in a major European league season since 2000
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every winner of the European Golden Shoe since 2000?