As the year 2018 comes to an end, take a look at the Top 5 players with most goals in all competitions for both club and country among those playing in Europe’s Top 5 leagues.
#5. Harry Kane – 42 goals
A year ago, Harry Kane scored a hat-trick against Southampton on Boxing Day to surpass Lionel Messi as the top scorer for 2017 with 56 goals to his name for both club and country. This year, he has to settle for fifth place with 42 goals for both club and country in 62 games.
Kane scored 34 of his goals for Tottenham and 8 for England. 6 of Kane’s goals for England came at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and it earned him the tournament’s Golden Boot.
The England captain was beaten to the Premier League Golden Boot in 2018 by Mohamed Salah despite scoring 30 goals in the entire league season. However, he was named in the PFA Team of the Year.
He has 14 goals to his name this year in the league which is the joined top in the league with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Kane has one more game left in 2018 to increase his tally.
#4. Mohamed Salah – 44 goals
If Mohamed Salah helped Liverpool clinch the Champions League title in 2018, maybe he would have won the Ballon d’Or in 2018. Such was his impact and performance for the Reds.
He has scored 44 goals combined for Liverpool and Egypt in 55 games and he has one more game left to play this year.
Salah won the Premier League Golden Boot in 2018 by scoring 32 goals. His tally is the highest for any player in a 38 game league season in England. He is the second highest goalscorer in the Premier League this season with 12 goals in 20 games and he will be hoping to bag back to back Golden Boots.
Although he didn’t win any team honours, he won a plethora of individual awards in 2018 including the PFA Players’ Player of the Year, FWA Footballer of the Year, Premier League Player of the Season, PFA Fans’ Player of the Year, FIFA Puskas Award and BBC Africa Footballer of the Year among many others.
Fun Fact: Salah also finished second in Egypt’s Presidential elections despite not applying for the position.
#3. Robert Lewandowski – 46 goals
Robert Lewandowski continues to be among the top goalscorers every year despite there being 4 games fewer in the Bundesliga and no two-legged ties in the domestic cup competition.
The Pole scored 46 goals for both club and country in 57 games in 2018; of which 42 goals were for Bayern Munich in only 45 games.
At the international level, he didn’t have a great year as he scored only 4 goals in 11 games and didn’t find the back of the net at the World Cup. To put things into perspective, in the previous three years, he scored a combined 28 goals in 25 games for Poland.
The 30-year-old won the Bundesliga Golden Boot last season and also won the league title. This season, he has 10 league goals but is only the fifth highest scorer and two goals behind the joint top scorers Paco Alcacer and Luka Jovic.
#2. Cristiano Ronaldo – 49 goals
In 2018, the Ronaldo-Messi duopoly in the Ballon d’Or was broken but the pair remains on top of the goalscoring charts and it isn’t even surprising.
The Portuguese ace had a year to remember as he won the fifth Champions League title of his career and was named the tournament’s top scorer for a sixth consecutive season.
After his heroics for Real Madrid, he had a good World Cup in which he scored 4 goals which included a breathtaking hat-trick against Spain. He also completed a move to Juventus in the summer and has been breaking records in Italy.
In 2018, Ronaldo has 15 goals in 24 games for Juventus, 28 goals in 22 games for Real Madrid and six goals in seven games for Portugal.
#1. Lionel Messi – 51 goals
Before we discuss Lionel Messi’s achievements in 2018, let’s remember the fact that he was named just the fifth best player in the 2018 Ballon d’Or.
For starters, Messi bossed La Liga last season and continues to do so this season. He was the player with most goals, assists, chances created and dribbles completed in La Liga last season and this season is no different.
In addition to this, Messi won the La Liga, Copa del Rey, La Liga Golden Boot, La Liga best player award and European Golden Shoe in 2018. Also, as things stand this season, no player in Europe’s Top 5 leagues has more goals or assists than the Argentine.
Messi scored 47 goals in 48 games for Barcelona in 2018 and four goals in five games for Argentina. His tally for 2018 is significantly lesser than the record he set in 2012 with 91 goals but it’s still enough to make him Europe’s top scorer for 2018.
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