Salah 8th, Benzema 6th, Mbappe 3rd… the 10 players who have scored the most goals in the league since 2020
While cups test a player’s nerves, the football league is about consistency.
During a grueling campaign, footballers take on teams with different attributes, skills and styles of play. Only the sharpest and most versatile can adapt to the football league and put the finishing touches, week after week.
Today, we’ll take a look at some fine forwards who have consistently produced goods in their respective domestic divisions since 2020. Below are the top 10 goalscorers who have scored the most league goals since the turn of the decade:
Stats via: Transfermarkt (only top five European divisions are taken into account)
#10 Lionel Messi – 56 goals
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) ace Lionel Messi has scored an impressive 56 goals in 96 league games since 2020.
Messi, who helped Argentina to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in December, scored 25 La Liga goals in the 2019-20 season, winning the Pichichi Trophy. Of his total, 12 goals have been scored in 2020.
In the 2020-21 season, Messi has scored 30 goals in 35 La Liga appearances. FC Barcelona fail to win Spanish title, but Messi retains his Pichichi trophy. The following season, at PSG, Messi scored just six goals in 26 Ligue 1 appearances as the Parisians won the Ligue 1 title.
He’s much more impressive this season, having already scored 8 goals and 10 assists in 15 games.
#9 Wissam Ben Yedder – 61 goals
AS Monaco centre-forward Wissam Ben Yedder has scored 61 goals in 100 league games since 2020, becoming the French side’s top scorer in Ligue 1.
Ben Yedder, who joined Monaco in July 2019, scored 18 goals in 26 Ligue 1 games in his debut season. Five of those accomplishments came in the second half of the 2019-20 season. The following season, he scored 20 goals in 37 games, helping Monaco finish in third place. In the 2021-22 season, Ben Yedder recorded the best performance in his history with 25 goals in 37 games.
Ben Yedder has also had a good run in Ligue 1 this season, scoring 11 times and providing two assists in 16 games.
#8 Mohamed Salah – 62 goals
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has scored 62 goals in 108 appearances in English football’s top flight since 2020.
In the 2019-20 season, Salah scored 19 times in 34 appearances as Liverpool won their 19th league title. Ten of his 19 goals came in the second half of the 2019-20 season, in 2020. The following season, Salah scored 22 goals in 37 appearances. He improved on his tally in the 2021-22 season, scoring 23 goals in 35 games as the Reds lost the title race to Manchester City by a single point.
The Egypt international has been slow to get into the groove this season, scoring just seven goals and providing four assists in 18 appearances so far.
#7 Harry Kane – 62 goals
Tottenham Hotspur ace Harry Kane is one of the best strikers in the Premier League, having scored 62 goals in 101 games as of 2020.
Kane scored 18 league goals in 29 appearances in the 2019-20 season, with seven of his goals coming that season in 2020. The following season, he scored 23 goals in 35 games, winning the Golden Boot. In 2021-22, Kane had a slow start to the season but accelerated in the second half to finish with a respectable 17 goals in 37 games.
Kane is as sharp as ever this season, with 15 goals and one assist in 17 Premier League appearances.
#6 Karim Benzema – 67 goals
Real Madrid superstar Karim Benzema has established himself as the club’s undisputed talisman in the post-Cristiano Ronaldo era. Since January 2020, the Frenchman has scored 67 times in 95 La Liga games for the All Whites.
In the 2019-20 season, Benzema scored 21 times and provided eight assists in 37 games as Real Madrid won La Liga. Nine of his goals in the 2019-20 La Liga campaign came in 2020. The following season, Benzema scored 23 goals and provided nine assists in 34 La Liga matches, but Madrid failed to retain the title, won by Atletico Madrid.
The 2021-22 season marked the best season of Benzema’s career. He scored 27 goals and provided 12 assists in 32 appearances to help Los Blancos win La Liga. The former France international has also been sharp this season, scoring eight times and providing one assist in 9 La Liga games so far.
#5 Cristiano Ronaldo – 69 goals
Cristiano Ronaldo, the latest signing of Al Nassr, has scored 69 goals in 93 league games in the top five European divisions between January 2020 and November 2023.
The Portuguese superstar scored 31 goals in 33 Serie A appearances in the 2019-20 season, including 21 in the second half of the season, in 2020. Juventus won the Serie A title that year, but Ronaldo missed out on the title of top scorer.
The following season he scored 29 goals in 33 games, becoming top scorer but missing out on the Serie A title. He joined Manchester United the following season and scored 18 goals in 30 appearances in England’s top flight.
Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse under Erik ten Hag in the 2022-23 season, and he left the club in November having scored just one goal in 10 league games.
#4 Ciro Immobile – 73 goals
Lazio striker Ciro Immobile is Serie A’s top scorer this decade, with 73 goals in 101 league games.
Immobile won his first top scorer title in the 2019-20 season, scoring 36 times in 37 games. 19 of his 36 goals have come in the second half of the 2019-20 season.
The following season, Immobile’s performance dropped significantly, with 20 goals in 35 games. Last season, Immobile re-emerged as the division’s top scorer, netting 27 times in 31 appearances.
Immobile, who is currently nursing a hamstring injury, has scored seven goals in 15 appearances this season.
#3 Kylian Mbappé – 75 goals
Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe is too hot for Ligue 1 defenders, having scored 75 times in 91 league games since 2020.
In the 2019-20 season, Mbappe scored 18 goals in 20 appearances. In the second half of the 2020-21 season, he scored seven goals and provided two assists in 2020. He won the top scorer award that season.
In the 2020-21 Ligue 1 season, Mbappe scored 27 goals in 31 matches. PSG lost the Scudetto, but Mbappe retained his top scorer title. Last season, Mbappé scored 28 goals in 35 games to claim his fourth consecutive top scorer title and help PSG to their tenth Ligue 1 title.
Mbappe is in great shape again this year. Author of 13 goals and two assists in 17 games, he established himself as the top scorer in the division.
#2 Erling Haaland – 83 goals
Manchester City goalscorer Erling Haaland, the youngest player on this list, has scored an impressive 83 goals in 84 league appearances since 2020.
Haaland joined Borussia Dortmund from RB Salzburg in January 2020. Between January and June, he scored 13 goals in 15 appearances. The following season, he scored 27 times in 28 games. In his final season at Dortmund, Haaland scored 22 goals in 24 Bundesliga appearances.
Haaland has been in a class of his own in the Premier League. Haaland has scored 21 times and provided three assists in 17 appearances so far in the English Premier League, becoming the division’s top scorer. It took him just 14 games to reach the 20-goal mark. No player in history has reached this milestone before.
#1 Robert Lewandowski – 104 goals
Scorer of 104 goals in 92 games since 2020, FC Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski sits well at the top of the table.
Lewandowski, who joined Barca from Bayern Munich last summer, scored 34 goals in the 2019-20 season, including 15 in 2020. The following season he upped the ante, netting 41 league goals in just 29 games.
Finally, in the 2021-22 season, he scored 35 goals in 34 games. Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga in all three of these seasons, with Lewandowski taking the top scorer award in each season.
The Pole also proved himself at Barcelona, where he became the league’s top scorer with 13 goals in 15 appearances.
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