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In Europe, it is common knowledge that Spanish football teams play beautiful football, creating a lot of chances, and score many goals.
Prolific goalscorers in Spanish football
In recent years, teams in Spain have boasted of some of the finest attacking players ever to play this game. Lionel Messi played for Barcelona, Cristiano Ronaldo played for Real Madrid, Antoine Griezmann and Luis Suarez played for Atletico Madrid and Barcelona respectively. All of these are elite forwards who have made a name for themselves plying their trade in Spanish football.
The major competitions in Spain are the La Liga, the Supercopa de Espana, and the Copa del Rey, and the easiest way to glory in the competitions is by scoring lots of goals.
Let's look at 5 players who have achieved such glory by being the ones with most goals in Spanish football competitions, in the 21st century.
#5 Luis Suarez (196 goals)
Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez is an icon in three different leagues of Europe: English Premier League, La Liga, and Dutch Eredivisie. The striker, however, enjoyed his greatest success in Spanish football, winning titles galore. He has scored 196 goals in domestic competitions in Spain since arriving in the country.
Suarez joined Barcelona in 2014 and instantly became a huge success at the club, forming a third of the deadly MSN triumvirate along with Lionel Messi and Neymar.
The 35-year-old striker remained at Camp Nou until 2020 when he was sold to rivals Atletico Madrid. Suarez scored a good number of goals to propel Los Rojiblancos to their first league title since 2014.
Suarez is one of the best in the world in his position. The veteran has won 13 major titles in his time in Spain, including five La Liga titles, four Copa del Rey titles, and two Supercopa de Espana. The Uruguayan notably scored 40 goals to win the Pichichi trophy in the La Liga of 2015-16.
#4 David Villa (206 goals)
David Villa is undoubtedly one of the greatest strikers to play for the Spanish national team. His attributes were hone by playing for different clubs in the country.
Villa managed 206 goals in 406 appearances for different clubs in the three competitions before leaving Spain. He featured for Real Zaragoza, Sporting Gijon, Valencia, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid in Spain before moving abroad as his career came to an end. The striker made his name in the top-flight with Zaragoza before his performances earned him moves to bigger clubs.
David Villa won nine trophies through his goal-scoring in his time in Spanish football, with three of them being league titles, three Copa del Rey titles, and three Supercopa de Espana. Villa is also the record goalscorer for the Spanish national team with 59 goals.
#3 Karim Benzema (238 goals)
Real Madrid star Karim Benzema is one of the most underrated strikers in the history of Spanish football. The Frenchman arrived at Madrid from Olympique Lyonnais in 2009 and has managed to win every title at the club while playing a significant role.
Benzema has managed 238 goals in 464 appearances in Spanish competitions so far. He has won the Copa del Rey title twice, the La Liga three times, and the Supercopa de Espana four times during his time in Spanish football.
Benzema has scored 20 goals or more in each of his last four seasons in La Liga as he continues to be one of the most prolific strikers in Europe. He is also the third highest scorer in the club's history, behind only Alfredo Di Stefano, Raul, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo (337 goals)
Widely revered for being the most prolific and efficient goalscorer ever, Cristiano Ronaldo enjoyed nine very productive years in Spanish football. He joined Real Madrid from Manchester United in 2009 for a then world record fee of £80 million and proved the club right for spending such an amount on him.
Ronaldo scored a grand total of 337 goals in 329 appearances in Spanish football competitions for Real Madrid, with an outstanding ratio of more than one goal per game.
The Portuguese forward won the Pichichi trophy thrice in his time at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2010/11, 2013/14, and 2014/15. He scored 40 goals, 31 goals, and 48 goals, respectively, in those seasons.
Ronaldo won six domestic titles in his nine years at Real Madrid. He won the La Liga , the Copa del Rey , and the Supercopa de Espana two times each.
#1 Lionel Messi (544 goals)
Had it not been for the financial mess Barcelona found themselves in during 2021, Lionel Messi would probably have spent his entire career at the club. The Argentine great made his first-team debut for the club as a teenager and wrote his name in the club's history books before leaving for Paris Saint-Germain.
Messi scored 544 goals in 620 appearances in Spanish football competitions for Barcelona. The diminutive forward won the Pichichi trophy a record eight times in: 2009/10, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, and 2020/21. He scored 34, 50, 46, 37, 34, 36, 25, and 30 goals, respectively, in those seasons.
Messi won the La Liga 10 times, the Copa del Rey seven times, and the Supercopa de Espana eight times, before leaving Spain. He is the record goalscorer in Spanish football, with his tally of 544 goals bettered by no one yet.
