'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
El Clasico is a match against two La Liga giants, Real Madrid and Barcelona. The rivalry between the two clubs over the decades makes it a highly-anticipated match.
Statistics have proven that the El Clasico is among the most football matches watched in the world annually, with a viewership average of around 75 to 100 million.
What most fans fail to notice is the sudden rise of non-Spanish players partaking in the El Clasico. Back in the day, the list of goalscorers in El Clasico rarely had players from outside Spain but lately that has not been the case.
Based on that, let's take a look at the five non-Spanish players with the most goals in El Clasico history.
#5 Luis Suarez – 11 goals
Luis Suarez is regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation. He has won nineteen trophies in his career, including the Champions League and Copa America.
The Uruguayan ace joined Barcelona from Liverpool in the summer of 2014. It wasn't until October that Suarez made his debut for Barcelona — he served an eight-match ban after he bit Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup — in an away 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid where he ushered in an assist.
Suarez eventually scored his first El Clasico goal in his next meeting against Real Madrid in a 2-1 home win in March of 2015. He followed it up with two more goals the following season in an away victory of 4-0.
He scored his first and only Clasico hat trick in October 2018 in a 5-1 win. The last time Suarez scored against Madrid was in February of 2019 when he scored twice in the second leg of the Copa Del Rey semi-finals.
Suarez currently plays for Atletico Madrid.
#4 Karim Benzema – 11 goals
Karim Benzema is also regarded as one of the greatest strikers of his generation. He was won 27 trophies including the UEFA Nations League and four Champions League titles.
Benzema joined Real Madrid from Lyon in 2009. However, it took him three seasons to score his first El Clasico goal in the Super Copa in August of 2011. He assisted Ronaldo's goal that canceled out Andres Iniesta's opener and scored to equalize following Lionel Messi's goal.
The match eventually ended in a 3-2 defeat. In October of 2011, the Frenchman opened the scoreline within the first minute only for the match to end in a 3-1 defeat. Benzema scored his third goal in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the Copa Del Rey in a 2-2 draw in January of 2012.
The French international's only brace against Barcelona came in a nail-biting match in March 2014, which ended in a 4-3 home defeat. Benzema's last Clasico goal came in January of 2022 in the Super Copa semi-finals, which his side won after extra time in 3-2. He also did register an assist in the match.
#3 Alfredo Di Stefano – 18 goals
Nicknamed Blond Arrow, Alfredo Di Stefano is regarded as one of the most complete footballers of all time. His records with Real Madrid are so remarkable that only a few Madrid players have broken some of them.
Di Stefano left Millonaros for Real Madrid in 1953. In his first El Clasico game, he scored twice, the opening and closing goals of the match in a 5-0 victory.
Although Di Stefano never scored a hat-trick against Barcelona, he was able to net a total of four braces against them, which were in 1953, 1960, 1960 and 1962. The Argentinian is ranked third on the all-time list of Madrid goal scorers with 216 goals.
Di Stefano died of a heart attack in July 2014 at the age of 88.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo – 18 goals
Arguably the greatest of all time in football history, Cristiano Ronaldo has won a total of 32 trophies, including the UEFA European Championships, UEFA Nations League. He also won the Champions League five times, the only person to ever do so.
Ronaldo is tied for second place on this list with 18 goals alongside Alfredo Di Stefano. The Portuguese extraordinaire moved from Manchester United a then-world record fee in the summer of 2009. Ronaldo opened his El Clasico goal tally the following season in a 1-1 home draw in April of 2011.
Four days later in the Copa Del Rey final, Ronaldo scored the winning goal in extra time. The following season, out of the four El Clasico matches Ronaldo played, he scored in three games, which resulted in a win, a draw and a loss.
Like Di Stefano, Ronaldo never registered a hat-trick against Barcelona. He came close to scoring one (hat-trick) in the same season (2011-12) on two different occasions. He netted a brace in a 2-2 away draw and a 3-1 victory in the second leg of the Copa Del Rey semi-finals.
Ronaldo's last involvement in an El Clasico match was in June of 2018 when he scored a goal in a 2-2 away draw. He left Real Madrid as their all-time goal scorer with 450 goals within just nine seasons. He, alongside Benzema, is the only player on the list to achieve the UCL three-peat.
Ronaldo currently plays for his former club, Manchester United, where he has 18 goals in all competitions.
#1 Lionel Messi – 26 goals
Lionel Messi is the all-time goal scorer in El Clasico history with 26 goals. Like Ronaldo, Messi is arguably the greatest of all time in football history. He has won a total of 35 trophies, including the COPA America, Champions League, among others.
The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner signed for Barcelona in 2004. However, he didn't score in an El Clasico match until his third season when he scored a hat-trick in a 3-3 home draw in 2007. His next and last El Clasico hat-trick came seven years later in a 4-2 away win in March of 2014.
Messi scored five braces, four of which came in victories. The Argentinian's last goal involvement was in June of 2018 in a 2-2 home draw. This was coincidentally the last time Ronaldo was ever involved in a Clasico goal.
Messi left Barcelona for PSG in the summer of 2021 as the highest goal-scorer in La Liga with 474 goals.
