Among the top 10 players with the best goal-to-game ratio in La Liga since 2000 are former Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, and Real Madrid stars.
The objective of the game is scoring goals, and without a doubt, La Liga has hosted some of the most exceptional strikers throughout history.
From the year 2000 onwards, these are the top 10 players with the highest goals-per-game ratio in La Liga.
=9. Zlatan Ibrahimović – 0.55 goals per match
Considering that Barcelona Fans have not witnessed the pinnacle of Ibrahimovic's abilities; it's remarkable enough that he has been included on this list.
Even though his tenure at Camp Nou was just one season, he managed to net 16 goals in 29 league matches, which is quite impressive.
"Yes, I let myself down," Ibrahimovic stated to Canal Plus while reminiscing about his tenure in Spain.
I took a different approach this time. I gave careful consideration before taking action and ended up disappointing myself. In doing so, I lost touch with who I was. Later on, however, I rediscovered my true self, which empowered me to achieve great success.
With a ratio of 0.55 goals per game, he slightly edges ahead of Karim Benzema for a place in the top 10 of this list.
=9. Neymar – 0.55 goals per game
In La Liga, Neymar enjoyed his most prolific season in 2015-16 when he scored 24 league goals in 34 appearances.
Across his entire stint in Spain, he managed to score 68 league goals in 123 appearances, giving him an overall ratio of 0.55 goals per game.
Considering he was never Barcelona’s main focal point in the final third, those numbers are massively impressive.
8. Gonzalo Higuain – 0.56 goals per game
The Argentine forward became a regular in the Real Madrid XI back in 2008–09 and after that point, he was scoring goals on a regular basis.
During three out of his last five seasons at Santiago Bernabeu, he managed to score more than 20 league goals each season, maintaining an average of 0.56 goals per match throughout his career in Spain.
7. Ronaldo Nazário – 0.65 goals per match
As this list considers only the period after 2000, Ronaldo's outstanding 1996–97 season at Barcelona does not contribute to his total here.
That season, he netted 34 league goals and maintained an average of 0.91 goals per match for the renowned Spanish club.
While his record of 0.65 goals per game at Real Madrid isn’t quite as impressive, it’s still good enough to earn him the seventh spot on this list.
6. Artem Dovbyk – 0.67 goals per game
The Ukrainian forward only spent one season playing in Spain, but what a year it was.
He managed to fire Girona into the Champions League as he scored 24 goals in 36 appearances across the 2023-24 campaign.
After making an impressive impact during his time in Spain, Roma acquired him last summer, and Girona has found it difficult to achieve similar success without Dovbyk at the forefront.
5. Robert Lewandowski – 0.69 goals per match
Many players begin to slow down when they reach 36, but Lewandowski is an exception to this trend.
After transferring to Barcelona in 2022, the Polish striker has upheld the high standards established during his time in Germany, where he netted an impressive 67 league goals in only 98 matches.
“People are talking about my age… but I know I’m working as hard as always. I want to play at the top level for a few more years,” Lewandowski recently told reporters.
“I feel very good physically. There’s no difference between a few years ago and now in terms of my stats.”
READ: 7 insane records Robert Lewandowski has broken for Barcelona this season
4. Luis Suarez – 0.7 goals per game
In five out of his eight seasons in La Liga with Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, Suarez succeeded in scoring more than 20 league goals each season.
In the 2015-16 season, which was his most productive campaign, he netted an impressive 40 league goals in only 35 matches.
In his prime, he is possibly the most outstanding pure forward in La Liga's history, though his scoring average of 0.7 goals per match places him at number four on this ranking.
3. Kylian Mbappé – 0.79 goals per match
Of course, Mbappe is currently being judged by a very small sample size compared to the majority of this list, but the early signs have been very promising from the Frenchman.
After a couple of hiccups in his first few months in Madrid, the 26-year-old has been playing out of his skin since the turn of the year.
If he manages to maintain that ratio of 0.79 goals per game throughout his entire La Liga career, he’ll go down as an all-time great at Real Madrid.
2. Lionel Messi – 0.91 goals for each match
Messi leads the all-time La Liga scoring charts with 474 goals in 520 appearances. However, that isn’t sufficient for him to claim the number one position on this list.
Lionel Messi's brilliance was evident from his youth, yet he only emerged as a consistent goalscorer in Spain's top flight during the 2008-09 campaign.
He boasts the highest number of goals scored in a single La Liga campaign, largely due to his outstanding performance during the 2011-12 season where he netted 50 times in just 37 matches.
Between 2008 and 2021, he consistently scored over 20 goals for an impressive 13 successive seasons. Nonetheless, he has narrowly missed out on claiming the top position.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo – scores at an average of 1.07 goals per match
Following his transfer to Real Madrid in 2009, Ronaldo’s scoring rate skyrocketed.
During his nine-year tenure in Spain, CR7 netted an impressive 311 La Liga goals in only 292 matches, translating to an astounding average of 1.07 goals per game.
Although he secured just two La Liga championships, nobody has scored goals as efficiently as Ronaldo throughout La Liga’s history.
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