5 forwards with the best goal-per-game ratio in Europe in 2021
What is more frightening for a team in football than the presence of a lethal goal scorer in their opposition? The presence of a consistently lethal goalscorer! It's one thing to score goals, but if you can't do it week in and week out, then no one's massively impressed by you. The difference between great strikers and the greatest strikers is that the latter rarely ever disappears from the scoresheet.
Every year the Golden Boot race for each of Europe's top five leagues receives massive coverage as one never gets too tired of watching goals in football. There are some world-class forwards who find a way to get on the scoresheet in the most dire circumstances too.
Goals matter to them, scoring is an art that comes naturally to them and their insatiable nature only makes them more entertaining to watch. This piece is all about those who have a habit of consistently getting goals and more goals. Here are the five forwards with the best goal-per-game ratio in Europe this year.
Note: Goals scored in all competitions for their clubs and national teams have been combined for this list.
#5 Mohamed Salah - 0.75
Quite easily the best in-form player in world football right now, Mohamed Salah is stealing the limelight game after game. The Egyptian has made a mockery of Premier League defenses and is scoring for fun while embarrassing defenders. Since the start of the year, Salah has scored 30 goals for Liverpool.
His goal-per-game ratio of 0.75 is the best in the Premier League and earns him fifth spot on this list. The Reds forward has now scored in his last ten consecutive appearances. In doing so he beat Daniel Sturridge's record for most consecutive scoring appearances for Liverpool, which was of eight games.
Mo Salah’s football career will be taught in schools across Egypt.
The forward’s life has been added to the national curriculum in his home country to inspire students, per @thetimes 📚👑 https://t.co/6fWaRTds45
Jurgen Klopp can't help but praise Salah, who has been nothing short of exceptional. With his goalscoring spree, he sits top of the Golden Boot race with 10 goals in nine games in the Premier League. The Liverpool forward also broke Didier Drogba's record as the highest scoring African in the English top-flight.
He scored a brilliant hat-trick in Manchester United's 5-0 mauling at Old Trafford. Drogba, who had 104 goals, is now second to Salah, whose tally has reached 107 and counting. Liverpool premiered a nightmare at the Theater of Dreams last Sunday which put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's job at great risk and Salah was the destroyer-in-chief.
#4 Karim Benzema - 0.77
God knows where Real Madrid would have been in the last couple of years if Karim Benzema hadn't simply just become the super striker he is now. Even Didier Deschamps couldn't resist capitalizing on the Frenchman's form and re-called him into the France squad. He repaid the faith by scoring four goals for them at Euro 2020.
Prior to Cristiano Ronaldo's departure from Real Madrid, Benzema had only scored 20 plus goals in La Liga in two seasons. Once in the 2011-12 season and then in the 2015-16 season. However, after the Portuguese left, Benzema deservedly rose as the new hero of Santiago Bernabeu. Since the start of 2021, he has scored 33 goals and that earns him a goal-per-game ratio of 0.77.
Karim Benzema has been directly involved in more goals than any other player in Europe's top five leagues this season (16).
Mo Salah isn't far behind. 👀 https://t.co/vBgHsQxr9v
The French striker has scored more than 20 goals in the Spanish league in each of the last three consecutive campaigns. Moreover, Benzema has been all over the pitch when Real Madrid attack, he's made it real hard for the defenders to mark and track him.
The centre-forward has already managed 19 goal contributions (11 goals and eight assists) this season in 13 matches in La Liga and the Champions League combined. To put that into perspective, Real Madrid's rivals Barcelona as a team have only scored 16 in the same matches. His link-up play with Vinicius Jr. has been very crucial for Los Blancos this season and Carlo Ancelloti will hope that long may it continue.