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Goal machines
We’ve just passed the midway point for most of the top domestic leagues in Europe, and some absorbing storylines are taking shape.
Here, we run through every player across Europe’s top six leagues (the usual Big Five plus Portugal's Primeira Liga) to have scored at least 10 league goals this season...
Chris Wood (Burnley) - 10 goals
The Kiwi has enjoyed a quietly impressive season with Burnley, finding the net 10 times in 23 appearances.
That has included a terrific start to the new year, as Wood has three goals in five games in 2020, including strikes that helped clinch shock wins over Leicester and Manchester United.
Francesco Caputo (Sassuolo) – 10
Caputo joined Sassuolo from Empoli last summer after an impressive campaign in which his goals weren’t quite enough to save the Tuscan side from relegation.
The 32-year-old hasn’t needed long to hit double figures for his new club, and has thrived in the technical, possession-heavy style of coach Roberto De Zerbi.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton) – 10
Nobody has benefitted from Carlo Ancelotti’s arrival at Everton more than Calvert-Lewin.
Since the Italian was appointed just before Christmas, the 22-year-old has hit top form with five goals in seven games, having previously needed 16 appearances to hit the same number. It seems like the only way is up for the talented youngster.
Luis Suarez (Barcelona) – 11
Although Barcelona appear to be on the hunt for a successor to the Uruguayan, he has proven this term that he’s far from done yet, sitting third in the La Liga scoring charts with more than half the season played.
Suarez’s progress was stymied by a knee injury in January, which came on the back of a wonderful run of five goals and seven assists in seven league games.
Teemu Pukki (Norwich) – 11
Pukki took the Premier League by storm following Norwich’s promotion, scoring six goals in his first five games to be named Player of the Month for August.
He’s slowed down a little since then, although still bagged important strikes to earn draws against Arsenal and Leicester and victory over Bournemouth, although the Canaries will need a miracle from the Finn to scrape themselves off the bottom of the table.
Florian Niederlechner (Augsburg) – 11
Niederlechner’s reported €2.5 million move to Augsburg from Freiburg last summer has proven to be a very astute piece of business, with the 29-year-old enjoying an impressive season at his new club.
The forward has 11 goals and eight assists to his name already, and remarkably set up all four goals in December’s 4-2 win over Hoffenheim.
Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan) – 11
Romelu Lukaku’s partner-in-crime has realised his potential this season at Inter, putting in several outstanding displays to become one of Serie A’s most dangerous forward players.
His 11-goal haul has helped Antonio Conte’s side mount a serious title challenge for the first time in years.
Sadio Mane (Liverpool) – 11
Mane, like Liverpool, shows no signs of slowing down. The Senegal winger scored his 50th league goal for the Reds on his 100th league appearance against Leicester back in October.
He also finished fourth in the Ballon d’Or voting, won African Footballer of the Year, helped Jurgen Klopp’s side lift the Club World Cup and fired them to a seemingly unassailable lead in their quest for a first Premier League title. Not bad going.
Harry Kane (Tottenham) - 11
We’re used to seeing Kane higher up lists such as these, and there’s little doubt that the Tottenham captain would have more than 11 goals by now were it not for serious injury.
The 26-year-old had 11 goals in 20 appearances before suffering a hamstring injury on New Year’s Day that has ruled him out until April.
Carlos Vinicius (Benfica) – 12
The Brazilian’s first season at Benfica has been one to remember so far, after a superb start in which he’s scored 12 goals and provided seven assists in just 17 appearances.
It’s the kind of form that makes you understand why the savvy Portuguese giants put a €100 million release clause in the 24-year-old’s deal when he arrived from Napoli last summer.
Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund) – 12
Sancho’s numbers this season are staggering. In just 18 Bundesliga appearances for Dortmund, the England winger has produced a dazzling 12 goals and 13 assists.
The 19-year-old’s recent form has been stunning, providing at least one goal and one assist in seven of his last nine league games.
Pizzi (Benfica) – 12
Benfica’s Pizzi is already enjoying his best-ever season at the club, having notched 12 league goals and a further eight strikes in cup competitions – from the wing.
His form in the league, where he’s the joint-top scorer with team-mate Carlos Vinicius, has helped put the Lisbon side seven points clear on top of the table.
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) – 13
Real Madrid’s top scorer has been in excellent form at home and in Europe this season. In addition to his 13 La Liga strikes, which have helped the Merengues go three points clear at the top of the table, he’s scored four times in the Champions League, becoming only the second player after Lionel Messi to find the net in 15 consecutive seasons in the competition.
When scored twice in a 4-0 win at Eibar, he overtook Ferenc Puskas to become the Spanish giants’ sixth all-time top goalscorer in La Liga, with 157 goals in 323 games.
Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) – 14
Rashford is already enjoying his best-ever season in front of goal, scoring 14 goals to surpass his previous best of 10.
The 22-year-old has also made a habit of turning up in the big games this season, scoring against Liverpool in October in a 1-1 draw that ended their rivals’ 17-match winning run, as well as notching six strikes in games against Chelsea, Leicester, Tottenham and Man City.
Lionel Messi (Barcelona) – 14
By his outrageously high standards, Messi is ranked quite low down on this list. But the Argentine’s tally of 14 goals in 17 games this season isn’t exactly disappointing, especially given that he’s also provided eight assists along the way.
Plus, this season the Argentine maestro has already scored a chip against Real Betis so sublime it was nominated for the FIFA Puskas award, as well as winning the Best FIFA Men’s Player award and a record sixth Ballon d’Or. Could be worse.
Josip Ilicic (Atalanta) - 14
Ilicic has always been something of an enigma. His talent was never in doubt, but his consistency always was.
This season, however, he simply can’t stop scoring for an Atalanta side that loves to play on the front foot. More often than not, his goals are worth watching – just have a look at his quick-thinking free-kick from halfway against Torino recently.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) – 14
Last season’s joint-top scorer in the Premier League, alongside Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, is already on course to match his 22-goal haul of 2018/19.
Aubameyang has 14 goals in 23 games so far, continuing his record of reaching double figures in every season he’s graced the English top flight. In a tumultuous season for Arsenal, the one certainty has been that the 30-year-old will keep on scoring.
Wissam Ben Yedder (Monaco) – 15
The Monaco striker is the top scorer in Ligue 1 this season, an impressive feat considering the forward firepower that runaway leaders PSG possess.
Ben Yedder has struck 15 goals in 20 games so far in another difficult campaign for the Monegasques as he makes his case for a place in France’s Euro 2020 squad next summer.
Romelu Lukaku (Inter Milan) – 16
Lukaku has been a man reborn since joining Inter last summer and has taken to Italian football like a duck to water.
The Belgian immediately struck up a devastating strike partnership with Lautaro Martinez, and he promises to become even more prolific now that he has Christian Eriksen behind him, following the Dane’s January arrival from Tottenham.
Sergio Aguero (Man City) – 16
Given his astonishing consistency for Manchester City, Aguero is one of the least surprising figures to find on this list.
His rate of 16 goals in 19 games is typically excellent, while the hat-trick he scored at Aston Villa in January was his 12th in the English top-flight, and saw him surpass Thierry Henry’s 175-goal haul to become the most prolific foreign player in Premier League history.
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) – 22
A brief summary of Lewandowski’s season so far: he set a Bundesliga record for scoring on the opening day of the season for a fifth consecutive year, he hit his 200th goal for Bayern Munich, he became the first player in Bundesliga history to hit double figures after just six games, he became the first player ever to score in each of the first 11 matches of a Bundesliga season, and he set a new record for the fastest time to score four goals in a Champions League match, against Red Star Belgrade in under 15 minutes.
