It will not come as a surprise to learn that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the two men to have scored the most goals this century given their status around the world as the two best footballers to have ever existed and played the game.
Of course, there are many who will debate who the best is and will use a number of different metrics to measure their abilities, whilst also looking at things such as football xG stats and other statistics that are now found throughout the game; just ask our guys at Total Football Analysis, they all know everything about the metrics inside out!
Nonetheless, when looking at the cold hard stats about how many goals have scored – because lets face it, the goals scored are what wins games in the end – Juventus’ CR7 leads the top of the pack, and by some distance.
Admittedly, the data taken from TransferMarkt in a graphic that they posted on their LinkedIn page takes into account the top 5 European leagues as well as goals scored at the international level for their country. Ronaldo recently levelled the all-time goal record on the international stage with 109 goals when he drew equal with Iran’s Ali Daei, but whether that has any huge impact on the overall standings could be debatable.
According to the data produced, the Portuguese superstar leads the charts with 778 goals, whilst rival Messi has 753 goals – although he will want to add to it when they face Brazil in the Copa America 2021 final at the weekend!
FC Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski comes third in the list for most goals scored this century and despite his incredible efforts for Die Roten, the Poland international only has 463 goals to his name – 290 behind Messi and 315 behind Ronaldo.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is fourth with a total of 451 goals, whilst new FC Barcelona signing, Sergio Aguero is fifth with 409 goals – alongside Manchester United forward, Edinson Cavani.
Karem Benzema made a return to the France side this summer at their disappointing UEFA European Championships competition and added to his overall goal tally this century with the Real Madrid man on 373 goals so far, whilst Atletico Madrid’s Luis Suarez is eighth with 362 goals to his name.
Wayne Rooney and Edin Dzeko currently finish the top 10 for players with the most goals in the 21st century for both clubs and international football combined, with 339 and 335 goals respectively, although it would not be a surprise to see the Bosnia & Herzegovina international overtake the currently Derby County boss in the upcoming season as he plays for Jose Mourinho at AS Roma in the 2021/22 Serie A campaign.
