Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are by a long way the highest two goalscorers within the storied historical past of the European Cup (together with the fashionable Champions League period), and it’s troublesome to envisage them being dethroned any time quickly.
However the two era-defining icons don’t have the very best goals-per-game ratio. Messi has a report of 129 targets in 163 appearances, averaging 0.79 per recreation, which is marginally higher than Ronaldo’s common of 0.77 from 140 targets in 183 appearances – which is the very same ratio as Ruud van Nistelrooy and, on the time of writing, Robert Lewandowski.
Listed here are the one 4 gamers (from these with 25+ targets solely) who can boast a greater European Cup goals-per-game ratio than each Messi and Ronaldo.
Erling Haaland
57 targets in 58 appearances – 0.98 targets per recreation
The one lively (and even alive) participant who can declare a greater Champions League goals-per-game report than Messi and Ronaldo.
Haaland introduced himself on the European stage as a 19-year-old for Purple Bull Salzburg. He scored a first-half hat-trick on his European debut towards Genk and hasn’t seemed again since.
The striker scored eight targets in six appearances for Salzburg within the group stage that season earlier than transferring to Borussia Dortmund, the place he additionally bettered a goal-a-game common with 15 in 13.
Surprisingly sufficient, his goalscoring returns have truly dipped barely since transferring to Manchester Metropolis, however 34 targets in 39 Champions League remains to be an distinctive strikerate. It consists of firing Metropolis to the trophy (and the treble) in his debut season, with 12 targets in 11 video games and 52 in all competitions.
On the age of 25, Haaland stands seventh within the all-time goalscorer charts. Hold this up and he may sooner or later surpass Messi and Ronaldo.
Gerd Muller
35 targets in 34 appearances – 0.97 targets per recreation
There’s arguably by no means been a extra devastatingly efficient centre-forward than Die Bomber, who virtually averaged a purpose per recreation between 1969 and 1977 at Bayern Munich.
No person, not even Ronaldo, can match Muller’s peak years. Between 1972 and 1975, he gained each the World Cup and European Championships with West Germany and three successive European Cups with Bayern.
All of that was after his one and solely Ballon d’Or in 1970, whereas his goalscoring numbers all through the 70s had been invariably out of this world.
Ferenc Puskas
36 targets in 41 appearances – 0.88 targets per recreation
Alfredo Di Stefano scored a hat-trick in Actual Madrid’s 1970 European Cup remaining victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Unbelievably, the Argentinian was outdone that night time by Puskas – who scored 4. Los Blancos gained 7-3.
The ahead scored properly over 400 targets for his hometown membership Budapest Honved, together with one within the European Cup, earlier than seeing out his twilight enjoying years in type within the Spanish capital, lifting the trophy thrice.
Alfredo Di Stefano
49 targets in 58 appearances – 0.88 targets per recreation
Sir Alex Ferguson was a schoolboy apprentice with Queen’s Park when he watched Di Stefano’s Actual Madrid put Eintracht Frankfurt to the sword within the 1960 European Cup remaining. He was certainly one of 127,000 in attendance that well-known night time.
“He had unbelievable steadiness and poise – in the event you take a look at one of many targets he scored towards Eintracht Frankfurt it was utterly what we had been speaking about – the steadiness he had. Unbelievable, he was,” he added.
“The wonderful factor about that was that Eintracht Frankfurt beat Rangers within the semi-finals, 6-3 and 6-1. They got here to Hampden Park as gods. They had been then annihilated by Actual Madrid within the remaining 7-3.”
Di Stefano scored a hat-trick that night time – the fifth successive remaining victory he scored in for Los Blancos.
We’ll by no means see the like once more.
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