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What's better than having one of your attackers firing on all cylinders? The answer is simple. Having two. Attacking partnerships have existed for as long as the beautiful game has. Having a strike partner whom you share a telepathic understanding with can elevate your game to a whole different level.
Some of the greatest forwards in the history of the sport have, at some point in their career, had a strike partner who understood them like no other. The legendary Alfredo Di Stefano had Ferenc Puskas. The same goes for Marco Van Basten and Ruud Gullit.
The duo of Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke were a crucial part of Manchester United's success in the late 90s and early 2000s.
In the 2000s, we had the nearly unstoppable Manchester United duo of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. Around the same time, the incredible Ronaldinho was tearing it up for Barcelona alongside Samuel Eto'o. Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery were another attacking pair that gave nightmares to their opposition.
Without further ado, let's take a look at five of the best attacking duos in football this season.
#5 Edin Dzeko and Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan)
Inter Milan were in a good place when the 2020-21 season ended. Or at least it looked like they were. After all, they had won the Serie A title after 11 years and had a team filled with talented, hungry players. But due to their financial woes, they had to let go of a few of their top stars and that included Romelu Lukaku.
Lukaku was arguably Inter Milan's best player last term and his departure was expected to rock the Nerazzurri. But they just took it in their stride and went and signed veteran striker Edin Dzeko on a free transfer. They paired him up with young Lautaro Martinez and the results have been great.
Dzeko's experience and Martinez's exuberance make for a wonderful duo. Their exploits in the final third have propelled Inter Milan to the top of the Serie A table. Dzeko has scored 11 goals and provided five assists in 25 appearances across all competitions for Simone Inzaghi's men this term.
Martinez has scored 11 goals and provided two assists in 24 appearances so far this ongoing season.
#4 Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain)
Kylian Mbappe has been in sublime form this season. Despite already having quite a strong side, PSG beefed up substantially this past summer and Lionel Messi was chief among their new arrivals. The Argentinian international has not exactly been among the goals in Ligue 1 thus far.
But if you've watched PSG play this term, you'll know that Messi has done quite well and it's just the end product that is lacking right now. Even then, he has been in great form in the Champions League. Messi and Mbappe are a dream pairing and Pochettino has to be the luckiest manager in the world in that regard.
The two can play to each other's strengths and the duo's ability to flit past defenders and get into dangerous areas makes PSG a dangerous team to go up against.
Messi has scored six goals and provided five assists in 16 appearances across all competitions for PSG. The incredible Kylian Mbappe has been one of the best performing attackers in all of Europe's top five leagues. He has scored 18 goals and provided 15 assists in just 26 appearances across all competitions this term.
#3 Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota (Liverpool)
Mohamed Salah has been one of the best players in the world in the 2021-22 season. The Egyptian international has upped his game a notch this term and has turned in plenty of matchwinning performances for Liverpool this term.
Portuguese forward Diogo Jota has ably supported him. The 25-year-old has proven to be a worthy addition to Jurgen Klopp's system and he has been among the goals this season as well.
Salah's strengths are pace, close control and shooting. Jota shares all these qualities and in addition to all those, he is also excellent at aerial duels despite not being a very tall customer. The pair have been running riot for Liverpool in the Premier League and other competitions.
Salah has scored 23 goals and provided nine assists in 26 appearances across all competitions for the Merseysiders this term. Meanwhile, Jota has scored 12 goals and provided two assists in 24 appearances across all competitions this season.
#2 Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)
Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller will go down in history as one of the greatest attacking duos of the 21st century. The pair have been dominant for a very long time now and despite being well into their 30s, it's hard to contain the two.
Lewandowski continues to be in wonderful goalscoring form. He has been prolific in front of goal once again and in Thomas Muller, he has a great enabler in that respect. Muller's game intelligence is on a whole different level. His off-the-ball movements helps create plenty of space for Lewandowski to exploit.
Due to the fact that they've played alongside each other for close to eight years now, they share a telepathic understanding. Muller is the 'assist-king' of Europe right now and Lewandowski is the king of goalscoring.
The Polish international has scored 31 goals and provided three assists in 26 appearances across all competitions for the Bavarians so far this term. Muller has scored eight goals and racked up a whopping 18 assists in 27 appearances across all competitions this season.
#1 Karim Benzema and Vinicius Jr. (Real Madrid)
Vinicius Jr. wasn't very far away from being written off as a mercurial talent. That was before he decided he was going to broaden his horizons and maximize his potential. The Brazilian international has taken his game to a whole new level by doubling down on his strengths.
Vinicius Jr.'s finishing has improved immensely this term and he has been a menacing presence down the left flank for Real Madrid this term. To make things better for Los Blancos, their experienced striker Karim Benzema has also been in great touch.
Together, Benzema and Vinicius Jr. have been tearing it up in La Liga. The Frenchman has scored 22 goals and provided eight assists in 25 appearances across all competitions this term.
Meanwhile, Vinicius has netted 14 times and racked up nine assists in 26 appearances across all competitions for Real Madrid this season. Like Vinicius' game, the understanding between the two players has also grown immensely this season and Carlo Ancelotti's men are reaping the benefits of it.
