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It is imperative to have prolific goalscorers if a team is looking to challenge for success of any nature. As Norwich City have displayed this season that despite having a fairly regular goalscorer such as Teemu Pukki in their ranks, a goalscorer alone is not enough as the Canaries are set for relegation despite the Finland international's 11 goals and 3 assists.
However, on the flip side, if a prolific goalscorer is added to an already well-constructed team, rewards can be reaped aplenty. Cristiano Ronaldo leading the star-studded Real Madrid line-up that won 3 consecutive UEFA Champions League titles is an excellent example of this, and so is that of Robin van Persie's arrival at Old Trafford in Sir Alex Ferguson's last season at Manchester United.
The latter in particular is one of the ideal examples of a player being a catalyst for immense success as the Dutchman was essentially the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle. A goalscorer who was lethal in front of goal and won games via his majestic ability in front of goal. Similarly, it is also important to have players who can not only score goals but set them as well, a skill that Lionel Messi has been particularly associated with for a while now.
Here, we take a look at five players with the highest goal + assist (G+A) output in Europe's top five leagues since the start of the 2017/18 season.
5. Cristiano Ronaldo | 83 G+A (68 G + 15A)
Albeit a rather surprising name this early in the list, Cristiano Ronaldo comes in as the fifth-highest goalscorer in Europe's big leagues since the beginning of the 2017/18 season. However, this is not as surprising as it might seem as the former Real Madrid forward has been known to be the greatest ever goalscorer in the Champions League and a large chunk of his goals in this period have come in Europe's premier competition.
The Juventus striker had a successful first season since his departure from the Santiago Bernabeu, collecting a host of individual awards and is currently the second-highest scorer in Serie A this season only behind Ciro Immobile. He has scored 21 in 21 league games this season and has 2 UCL goals to his name.
Having helped Juventus to the league title and powering the Old Lady past Atletico Madrid with a hat-trick in last year's UCL Round-of-16, Ronaldo is likely to put in a herculean shift in order to overturn a one-goal deficit against Lyon in the same stage this year.
His 68 goals were accompanied by 15 assists and came in a total of 6836 minutes of football in both La Liga Santander and Serie A, taking his total G+A contribution for this period 83.
Also read: Premier League stat attack: Ranking the best off-the-ball runners in the 2019-20 season
4. Robert Lewandowski | 88 G+A (76 G + 12A)
Bayern Munich superstar Robert Lewandowski has undoubtedly been the most phenomenal striker in world football this season. The Polish hitman has racked up some otherworldly numbers in the ongoing campaign having already hit 25 league goals in 23 games coupled with an astonishing 11 strikes in just 6 Champions League matches.
The talking point here, though, is that his impressive goalscoring record isn't just a flash in the pan. Lewandowski has been one of the most established centre-forwards in Europe for a few years now even before he made the move to Munich. The former Borussia Dortmund man is the highest-scoring foreign player in Bundesliga history and has won a league title every year since 2014 with Bayern and two more with Jurgen Klopp's Dortmund.
Although currently out injured, the Pole is one of the most consistent goalscorers over the last few seasons and has 76 goals and 12 assists in 7169 minutes since the start of the 2017/18 campaign, the fourth-highest output in Europe in that period.
3. Ciro Immobile | 92 G+A (71 G + 21 A)
It is easy for a young, talented player to go to a big team and fade away in the galaxy of superstars already there. In the case of Ciro Immobile, it isn't all too different. The Italian was purchased by Juventus for €80,000 at the age of 18 and was sent on loan to several different clubs after which a permanent move to Genoa followed.
After wandering in Europe with stints in Dortmund, Seville and Turin (with Torino), Lazio offered the striker a new lease of life and Immobile repaid the €9.5m paid for him in incredible fashion.
Across all competitions, the former Torino man has played 167 games scoring 116 times and setting up 32 goals. These staggering numbers are all the more impressive considering how incredibly good he has been in the last couple of seasons. At the moment, Immobile is averaging over a goal every game in the Italian top-flight, scoring 27 goals in 26 games and chipping in with 7 assists.
Since the beginning of the 2017/18 season, Immobile has racked up 71 goals and 21 assists in 7656 minutes in the league, leading to a G+A total of 92.
2. Mohamed Salah | 93 G+A (69G + 24A)
There have hardly been more complete wingers in the world since the ascendance of a certain Egyptian attacker in the Premier League. Liverpool's magical Mohamed Salah is one of the best players in the world and has, for a season or two now, been mentioned in the same breath as some of the greatest players to have played for the Reds.
The former AS Roma winger was brought in from Serie A for a price that was just €4m more than what Chelsea parted with for the services of Danny Drinkwater and is, by far, one of the best deals struck by a Premier League club in recent memory. A Champions League, PFA PotY and soon-to-be Premier League winner, Salah can do no wrong and is the razor-sharp tip that leads what is undisputedly Europe's best attacking trio alongside Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.
The 27-year-old already has 15 goals and 6 assists in the Premier League this season, while notching 4 in 7 games in the Champions League. However, since the beginning of the 2017/18 season, Salah has registered 69 top-flight goals along with 24 assists, tallying up to a staggering 93 G+A over this period, taking 8243 minutes to do so. He is arguably the best player in the English top-flight and one of the best in the world, but in this regard, he is second only to a football icon.
1. Lionel Messi | 125 G+A (88G + 37A)
There could simply be no other name to top a list of this nature. Lionel Messi is considered by many as the greatest ever player to set foot on a football pitch and it is hardly surprising to see the diminutive Argentine topping another list by quite a margin.
One of the most consistent goalscorers, assist-providers and playmakers over the last decade or so, Messi this season has picked up right where he left off last season as he has already registered 18 goals and 12 assists in just 21 games in La Liga Santander, with 2 goals in the Champions League.
However, once his numbers from previous seasons have been stacked up together, the reigning Ballon d'Or winner's numbers are absolutely bonkers to a point where they appear fabricated. Messi has scored a stunning 88 goals and set up a further 37 since the beginning of the 2017/18 season in just 7416 minutes.
For context, Mo Salah is the player with the next best figures with a G+A of 93, which is 22 less than that of the Argentina captain - and he achieved those figures playing approximately 800 minutes lesser than the Liverpool superstar.
Lionel Messi is, as ever, the gold standard for attacking output - and it remains to be seen if anyone can step up to challenge for the Barcelona icon's throne.
Also read: Ranking the deadliest strikers in each of Europe's top 5 leagues
