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Football at the end of the day is all about scoring goals. We can go on about tactics and strategies all day long, but it is the goals that make every fan jump from their seats.
In terms of goals scored in a calendar year, the benchmark was set by Pelé in 1958 when he broke the 70 goal barrier for the first time. Gerd Müller bettered that in 1972 scoring 85 goals for Bayern Munich and West Germany. That record stood for 40 years before it was broken by Barcelona's talisman Lionel Messi in 2012.
Messi was not able to hit those heights in 2017 and the race to end the year as the top scorer was indeed a very tight one this year. So, who are top 5 goal scorers in 2017 for club and country(excluding friendlies)?
Here is a list of the top 5
#5 Cristiano Ronaldo (53 goals in 60 matches)
Perhaps the most consistent footballer of the last decade, Cristiano Ronaldo is a perfect example of how work ethic and the desire to be the best in the world separates the great players from the legendary ones.
Ronaldo has divided opinion among the fans because of his attitude but no one can ever deny his dedication towards the game, His unrelenting determination to become the best player of the game has enabled him to consistently produce outstanding performances week in week out.
Ronaldo ended the year with 53 goals from 60 matches as he swept all the major individual and team awards this season.
Out of those he scored 42 goals in 49 matches for his club Real Madrid and a further 11 goals in 11 matches for Portugal.
#4 Edinson Cavani (53 goals in 57 matches)
Edinson Cavani from Uruguay is a quick, strong and opportunistic forward who plies his trade in the French Ligue 1 with PSG. After playing second fiddle to Zlatan Ibrahimovic for a number of years, he has assumed the mantle of being the lead striker at the club since the former's departure.
He is strong on both feet well as in the air. However, he is often adored by the fans for his tireless running throughout the game.
He ended the year 2017 with 53 goals from just 57 matches maintaining an impressive goal per game ratio of 0.93.
He has enjoyed an absolutely stellar season with PSG as he reached a half-century of goals with them this calendar year. He also scored 3 times for Uruguay taking his total tally to 53 for the year.
#3 Robert Lewandowski (53 goals in 55 matches)
Robert Lewandowski is Bayern Munich and Poland's sharpshooter. A typical poacher, he made the switch from Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich in 2014 and there has been no looking back since then.
He has scored over 150 goals in Germany's top division and reached the century mark quicker than any other foreign player. He stunned the footballing world when he scored 5 goals in just 9 minutes against VFL Wolfsburg in September 2015 - the fastest in any major European football league since records have been kept.
He ended the year with 53 goals in the calendar year maintaining a goal per game ratio of 0.96.
Out of the 53, 9 of them came for his country Poland as he led them to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. 44 of them came for Bayern Munich, for whom he still remains the main man.
#2 Lionel Messi (54 goals in 64 matches)
There are not enough adjectives to describe Lionel Messi's glittering career. His rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo as they went head-to-head winning 10 Ballon D'ors between them has thrilled football fans over the last decade.
Quick and nimble-footed Messi is adept at scoring as well as setting up goals for his teammates. He had his best goal scoring year in 2012 when he ended the year with an astounding 91 goals beating the previous record set by Gert Müller in 1972 who had scored 85.
Messi ended 2017 with a match-winning performance in El Clásico as he wrapped up the year with 54 goals from 64 matches.
His break up of goals is as follows - 50 goals for Barcelona in 57 appearances and a further 4 goals for Argentina in 7 matches.
#1 Harry Kane (56 goals in 50 matches)
Harry Kane burst onto the scene in the 2014-15 season for Tottenham Hotspur scoring 31 goals in the campaign which included 21 in the Premier League.
Proving all his detractors wrong who called him a one-season wonder, he finished as the top scorer in both the 2015-16 and 2016-17 Premier League seasons.
Kane's composure in front of the goal is exemplary. Physically strong both with and without the ball, his insatiable appetite for goals has transformed him into one of the best young strikers in the game.
He has scored 56 goals in just 50 matches, boasting the best goals per game ratio among anybody in the top 5.
Out of those, 49 goals have come for Spurs while the rest 7 have come for England as he has taken over the mantle as England's main centre-forward.
To end the year ahead of Ronaldo and Messi is truly an astounding achievement for this young English striker.
