Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and more: Players with highest goals + assists in Europe's top five leagues since the 2017-18 season
It is imperative to have prolific goalscorers if a team is looking to challenge for success of any nature. As Norwich City have displayed this season that despite having a fairly regular goalscorer such as Teemu Pukki in their ranks, a goalscorer alone is not enough as the Canaries are set for relegation despite the Finland international's 11 goals and 3 assists.
However, on the flip side, if a prolific goalscorer is added to an already well-constructed team, rewards can be reaped aplenty. Cristiano Ronaldo leading the star-studded Real Madrid line-up that won 3 consecutive UEFA Champions League titles is an excellent example of this, and so is that of Robin van Persie's arrival at Old Trafford in Sir Alex Ferguson's last season at Manchester United.
The latter in particular is one of the ideal examples of a player being a catalyst for immense success as the Dutchman was essentially the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle. A goalscorer who was lethal in front of goal and won games via his majestic ability in front of goal. Similarly, it is also important to have players who can not only score goals but set them as well, a skill that Lionel Messi has been particularly associated with for a while now.
Here, we take a look at five players with the highest goal + assist (G+A) output in Europe's top five leagues since the start of the 2017/18 season.
5. Cristiano Ronaldo | 83 G+A (68 G + 15A)
Albeit a rather surprising name this early in the list, Cristiano Ronaldo comes in as the fifth-highest goalscorer in Europe's big leagues since the beginning of the 2017/18 season. However, this is not as surprising as it might seem as the former Real Madrid forward has been known to be the greatest ever goalscorer in the Champions League and a large chunk of his goals in this period have come in Europe's premier competition.
The Juventus striker had a successful first season since his departure from the Santiago Bernabeu, collecting a host of individual awards and is currently the second-highest scorer in Serie A this season only behind Ciro Immobile. He has scored 21 in 21 league games this season and has 2 UCL goals to his name.
Having helped Juventus to the league title and powering the Old Lady past Atletico Madrid with a hat-trick in last year's UCL Round-of-16, Ronaldo is likely to put in a herculean shift in order to overturn a one-goal deficit against Lyon in the same stage this year.
His 68 goals were accompanied by 15 assists and came in a total of 6836 minutes of football in both La Liga Santander and Serie A, taking his total G+A contribution for this period 83.
Also read: Premier League stat attack: Ranking the best off-the-ball runners in the 2019-20 season