10 greatest players in La Liga history ranked - Do Messi and Ronaldo make the cut?

#4 Telmo Zarra - Athletic Bilbao

Telmo Zarra

Arguably the greatest player in the history of Athletic Bilbao, Telmo Zarraonandía Montoya, was a goal scorer par excellence. The Spaniard spent 15 seasons with the Basque outfit and netted 251 league goals – a Spanish record which stood for almost 6 years before being broken by Lionel Messi.

However, Zarra has so many records to his name that even Messi will find them difficult to break in his lifetime. He has an almost perfect record for the Spanish national team, having netted 20 goals in 20 appearances.

This is not where his legend ends, or rather it is where it begins. Zarra is the top scorer in Athletic Bilbao’s history, while he has the distinction of being the only player ever to win 6 Pichichi awards for his exploits in La Liga, surpassing Di Stefano, Hugo Sanchez and Quini – who all have 5.

To add to that, the Erandio—born Spaniard, is the top scorer in the history of the Copa del Rey, having scored an incredible 81 goals, while also being the player who has scored most number of goals in a Copa del Rey final, when he netted 4 against Real Valladolid in 1950.

Despite his inhuman goalscoring exploits, he didn’t enjoy the most successful club career, winning a solitary league title in 1943, coupled with 5 other Copa del Rey triumphs.

Zarra almost managed to breach the 500 mark, managing a score of 493, which ensured that he is 4th on this list.