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. 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.

9. Kylian Mbappe – 254 goals

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 greats.

But for now, of the contemporary great goalscorers it’s Mbappe who finds himself in the top 10 and surely set to move up at least a couple of places this season.

The World Cup winner scored 191 goals for Monaco and PSG in Ligue 1, and he’s already up to 63 goals (from just 71 appearances) for Real Madrid in La Liga.

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. 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.

4. Harry Kane – 314 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 – 101 goals in just 98 outings.

Still only 33, 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.

3. Robert Lewandowski – 395 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.

He didn’t quite become the third footballer in history to break the 400-goal mark across Europe’s top leagues after setting sail for Chicago Fire, but somehow we doubt that keeps him up at night.

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 three 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.

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