Top 10 Goal Scorers

What makes a good goal scorer?

Well first of all you need to be able to score goals. Secondly you need to be selfish and thirdly you need to be able to play with your back to goal and be composed in front of goal.

All the top strikers in the world over the years have had all of these attributes and it's what made them prolific goal scorers.

They also have attributes that are different to what other players have in some are quick and agile, whilst others are big, strong, good in the air and physical.

We have seen many great strikers during the modern era and any of them could've made it onto my incredible list.

Loads of big names missed the cut including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who I probably could've put on the list, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Thierry Henry, Sergio Aguero, Wayne Rooney and even Harry Kane.

Before I mention any more names that could've made the list, here it is:

Robert Lewandowski

Ronaldo

Karim Benzema

Cristiano Ronaldo

Raul

Erling Haaland

Luis Suarez

Samuel Eto'o

Lionel Messi

Miroslav Klose

10. Samuel Eto'o

Eto'o won everything in the game including three La Liga titles and the Copa Del Rey with Barcelona, and three Champions League with two coming at Barca and the other coming with Inter Milan as part of the treble he won in 2010.

But I do feel that he was a bit underrated in that he was never considered as one of the top strikers in Europe when he was in his prime.

He was a player who had bags of pace, was agile, energetic, powerful and a score of all kinds of goals as he showed many times at Barca.

He scored a lot of important goals during his time at Barca including in the 2006 and 2009 Champions League finals against Arsenal and Man United respectively.

9. Miroslav Klose

Klose was probably better remembered on the international stage than he was at club level as his record for Germany was incredible.

He's Germany's record goal scorer with 71 goals and is also the World Cup record goal scorer with 16 goals.

He did score a lot of goals at club level, but most of his goals were with so-called smaller clubs in Werder Bremen, Lazio and Kaiserslautern.

He did score goals at Bayern Munich which was the only big club he played for. But he didn't get as many there as he did for the other clubs he played for despite hitting 20+ in each of his first two seasons there.

8. Erling Haaland

Haaland will probably be a lot higher up this list in a few years time because of the amount of goals he's bound to score.

But as he hasn't been around as long as the others on the list were, I had to put him down in 8th.

He's been a goal scoring machine pretty much ever since he burst onto the scene and has been a world class striker pretty much ever since then too.

His time at Dortmund saw him become that world class striker by scoring goals at an incredible rate after arriving there as a player with the potential to be world class.

Since he's been at Man City, he's further established himself as arguably the best striker in Europe because of the incredible rate he scores goals at and the amount of goals he scores.

He took them onto that next level during his first season there as his 52 goals in all competitions played a huge role in them winning the treble which included their first Champions League.

7. Karim Benzema

Benzema was underrated for quite some time at Real Madrid because of Ronaldo being the main man and wasn't until after Ronaldo left when he started getting the credit he deserved.

He scored a lot of important goals when he was at Real, but it wasn't until after Ronaldo left where he stepped out of his shadow and became the main man.

2022 was the year where he really stepped out of Ronaldo's shadow as he netted a staggering 44 goals as Real won La Liga and the Champions League with his goals being a major part of both triumphs.

He was finally given the recognition his career deserved that year as his goals and performances throughout the year earned him the Ballon D'or.

6. Luis Suarez

Suarez did have a bad side to him but when he was focused on his football, he was an exceptional player to watch.

He showed a lot of promise and potential when he was at Ajax and Liverpool, but it was at Barcelona where he had the best years of his career and became arguably the best striker in Europe.

He was incredible alongside Messi and Neymar as part of that MSN front three at Barca, which is arguably the greatest front three of all-time because of how deadly a trio they were.

He was a player who had everything in that he was quick, skilful, agile, energetic, and could do almost anything with the ball at his feet.

5. Robert Lewandowski

Lewandowski has probably been the best striker in the world over the last decade and he's still right up there today at the age of 36.

He first announced himself on the big stage when he was at Dortmund and in particular his second season as he netted 22 goals to lead them to a second successive Bundesliga title.

He carried on scoring goals over the next couple of seasons at Dortmund before joining Bayern Munich, where he further established himself as arguably the best striker in the world.

He scored at an incredible rate at Bayern as he helped them win the Bundesliga in every season he was there alongside a few German Cup's and the Champions League in 2020.

He would've won the Ballon D'or had the award ceremony not been cancelled due to COVID as his goals that year were massive in Bayern winning the treble.

4. Raul

Raul was an exceptional goal scorer on his day as he had an addiction to scoring goals and was capable of scoring almost any kind of goal.

He was a goal scoring machine right throughout his time at Real Madrid where he spent almost his entire career and scored a staggering 323 goals.

He had a brilliant goal record in the Champions League as well as with Real as he netted 71 times and was the record goal scorer for a number of years, until he was overtaken by Messi and Ronaldo.

He might possibly regret retiring from international football as soon as he did as he missed out on being part of Spain's golden generation that dominated the international stage.

He was entering the twilight years of his career at the time he retired from international football, but there may be a part of him that wishes that he was part of that side that won the Euros in 2008.

3. Ronaldo

Ronaldo or R9 as he is often known as is without a doubt the greatest no.9 of all-time.

He could pretty much score any kind of goal on his day ranging from headers, volleys, solo efforts, strikes into the top corner and even dinks over the keeper.

He seen by many as one of the greatest players to play the game because of the abilities he had as well as being such a great goal scorer. But he didn't quite become the greatest because of injuries which were what held him back.

He was the World Cup record goal scorer for a number of years and his dazzling performances in the 2002 edition played a crucial role in Brazil going all the way along with his goals.

But he never got his hands on the Champions League which will without a doubt be one of if not the biggest regret of his career.

2. Lionel Messi

Messi as everyone knows has been an incredible player to watch right throughout his career because of the things he could do with the ball at his feet.

But he has also been a brilliant goal scorer because of the quality of goals he could score and many of them were of the highest order.

A lot of his goals have been of course solo efforts because of his ability to glide past players effortlessly. But he has chipped in with other kinds of goals such as long range efforts, like his free kick against Liverpool in the Champions League, and even the odd header like the one he scored in the 2009 Champions League final against Man United.

The amount of goals he's scored throughout his career is insane as are the things he can do with the ball at his feet.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo and Messi were always going to be in my top two because of the players they've been and the fact that they've taken goal scoring onto another level.

Although I think Messi is the better player, Ronaldo is the better goal scorer and the stats can very much back that up.

He's scored more career goals than any other player in the history of the game with 938, and is the record goal scorer in the Champions League with 140.

He's been a driven player right throughout his career and for him to continue performing at such a high standard and have the same desire to break records is just incredible.

It's even more incredible to still see him scoring goals at the age of 40 and the main reason for this is because he keeps himself in top condition and in good shape.

MY TOP 10:

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

2. Lionel Messi

3. Ronaldo

4. Raul

5. Robert Lewandowski

6. Luis Suarez

7. Karim Benzema

8. Erling Haaland

9. Miroslav Klose

10. Samuel Eto'o