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While cup competitions test the nerves of a player, league football is all about consistency. Over the course of a grueling campaign, footballers are placed in front of teams with different attributes, abilities, and playing styles. Only the sharpest and most versatile manage to adapt to league football and apply the telling touch, week in and week out.
Today, we will take a look at some excellent forwards who have consistently produced the goods in their respective domestic divisions since 2020. Below are the 10 excellent goalscorers who have scored the most league goals since the start of the decade:
Stats via: Transfermarkt (only top-five European divisions counted)
#10 Lionel Messi — 56 goals
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) ace Lionel Messi has scored an impressive 56 goals in 96 league games since 2020.
Messi, who helped Argentina to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in December, scored 25 goals in La Liga in the 2019-20 season, winning the Pichichi Trophy. Out of his total tally, 12 goals came in 2020.
In the 2020-21 campaign, Messi netted 30 goals in 35 La Liga matches. Barcelona didn’t win the Spanish title, but Messi retained his Pichichi Trophy. The following season, at PSG, Messi scored only six times in 26 Ligue 1 appearances as the Parisians won the Ligue 1 title.
This term, he has been far more impressive, already scoring eight goals and providing 10 assists in 15 games.
#9 Wissam Ben Yedder — 61 goals
AS Monaco center-forward Wissam Ben Yedder has scored 61 goals in 100 league games since 2020, emerging as the French team's leading goalscorer in Ligue 1.
Ben Yedder, who joined Monaco in July 2019, scored 18 goals in 26 Ligue 1 games in his debut season. Five of those strikes came in the second half of the 2019-20 season. The following season, he clocked 20 goals in 37 games, helping Monaco to a third-place finish. In the 2021-22 season, Ben Yedder recorded his best-ever return of 25 strikes in 37 matches.
Ben Yedder has enjoyed a fine run in Ligue 1 this season as well, scoring 11 times and providing two assists in 16 games.
#8 Mohamed Salah — 62 goals
Liverpool frontman Mohamed Salah has scored 62 goals in 108 appearances in the premier division of English football since 2020.
In the 2019-20 season, Salah scored 19 times in 34 matches as Liverpool won their 19th league title. Ten of his 19 goals came in the second half of the 2019-20 season, in 2020. The following season, Salah struck 22 times in 37 appearances. He bettered his tally in the 2021-22 season, pitching in with 23 goals in 35 games as the Reds lost the title race to Manchester City by a solitary point.
The Egypt international has been slow to get into his stride this season, scoring only seven goals and providing four assists in 18 appearances so far.
#7 Harry Kane — 62 goals
Tottenham Hotspur ace Harry Kane has been one of the best strikers in the Premier League, with him scoring 62 goals in 101 games since 2020.
Kane struck 18 league goals in 29 appearances in the 2019-20 season, with seven of his goals that season coming in 2020. The following season, he bagged 23 goals in 35 games, winning the Golden Boot. In 2021-22, Kane had a slow start to the season, but accelerated in the second half to finish with a respectable total of 17 goals in 37 games.
Kane has looked as sharp as ever this season, scoring 15 times and claiming an assist in 17 games in the English top flight.
#6 Karim Benzema — 67 goals
Real Madrid superstar Karim Benzema has emerged as the club’s undisputed talisman in the post-Cristiano Ronaldo era. Since January 2020, the Frenchman has scored 67 times in 95 La Liga games for the All Whites.
In the 2019-20 season, Benzema scored 21 times and provided eight assists in 37 games as Real Madrid won La Liga. Nine of his goals in the 2019-20 La Liga season came in 2020. The following season, Benzema bagged 23 goals and provided nine assists in 34 La Liga games, but Madrid failed to retain their title, with Atletico Madrid clinching it.
The 2021-22 season marked the best-ever season of Benzema’s career. He scored 27 goals and provided 12 assists in 32 games as Los Blancos won La Liga. The former France international has looked sharp this season as well, scoring eight times and providing an assist in 9 La Liga games so far.
#5 Cristiano Ronaldo — 69 goals
Al Nassr’s latest recruit Cristiano Ronaldo scored 69 goals in 93 league games in the top five European divisions between January 2020 and November 2023.
The Portuguese superstar scored 31 goals in 33 Serie A appearances in the 2019-20 season, with 21 of his goals coming in the second half of the season, in 2020. Juventus won the Serie A title that year, but Ronaldo missed out on the top scorer award.
The following season, he scored 29 goals in 33 games, winning the top scorer award but missing out on the Serie A title. He re-joined Manchester United the following season and scored 18 goals in 30 appearances in the English top-flight.
Unfortunately, things went south under Erik ten Hag in the 2022-23 season, with him leaving the club in November after scoring only one goal in 10 league games.
#4 Ciro Immobile — 73 goals
Lazio striker Ciro Immobile has been Serie A’s leading man this decade, scoring 73 goals in 101 league matches.
Immobile won his first top-scorer award in the 2019-20 season, netting 36 times in 37 games. An impressive 19 of his 36 goals came in the second half of the 2019-20 season.
The following season, Immobile’s output dropped significantly, with him scoring 20 goals in 35 games. Last season, Immobile reappeared as the division’s top scorer, scoring 27 times in 31 appearances.
Immobile, who is currently nursing a hamstring injury, has scored seven goals in 15 appearances this season.
#3 Kylian Mbappe — 75 goals
Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe has been too hot to handle for Ligue 1 defenders, with him scoring 75 times in 91 league games since 2020.
In the 2019-20 season, Mbappe bagged 18 goals in 20 matches. He scored seven goals and provided two assists in the second half of the 2020-21 season, in 2020. He won the top scorer award that season.
In the 2020-21 Ligue 1 campaign, Mbappe netted 27 times in 31 games. PSG missed out on the league title, but Mbappe retained his top-scorer award. Last season, Mbappe scored 28 times in 35 games to win his fourth-consecutive top scorer award and fire PSG to their 10th Ligue 1 title.
This term, too, Mbappe has been in formidable form. Scoring 13 times and providing two assists in 17 games, he has emerged as the division’s leading scorer.
#2 Erling Haaland — 83 goals
Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland, the youngest player on this list, has scored a staggering 83 goals in 84 league appearances since 2020.
Haaland joined Borussia Dortmund from RB Salzburg in January 2020. Between January and June, he scored 13 times in 15 appearances. The following season, he netted 27 times in 28 matches. In his final season at Dortmund, Haaland scored 22 times in 24 Bundesliga matches.
Haaland has been in a class of his own in the Premier League. Haaland has scored 21 times and provided three assists in 17 English top-flight games so far, emerging as the division’s leading scorer. He took only 14 matches to reach the 20-goal landmark. No player in history has reached the milestone sooner.
#1 Robert Lewandowski — 104 goals
Scoring 104 goals in 92 games since 2020, Barcelona forward Robert Lewandowski sits pretty at the top of the table.
Lewandowski, who joined Barca from Bayern Munich last summer, scored 34 times in the 2019-20 season, with 15 of those goals coming in 2020. The following season, he upped the ante, scoring 41 league goals in only 29 games.
Finally, in the 2021-22 season, he scored 35 times in 34 games. Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga in all three seasons, with Lewandowski claiming the top-scorer award in each campaign.
The Pole has hit the ground running at Barcelona as well, emerging as the league’s leading scorer with 13 strikes in 15 games.
