Top 10 Goalscorers in La Liga. Thanks to the achievements of legends in the middle of the 20th century, records in La Liga once stood for ages. The Spanish league took some time to become well-known, but once it did, it swept over Europe and had many periods of domination.
The fact that Spanish teams have won the Champions League a record 16 times and placed second 11 times is not surprising.
The record for the most goals scored in La Liga has been challenged numerous times over the years, but no player has been able to beat it since serial Ballon d’Or winners Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo transformed the game in Spain.
Let’s look at the top 10 goalscorers of all time in La Liga:
#10 Edmundo Suárez – 195 goals:
Edmundo Suarez is ranked No. 10 on our list of the top scorers in La Liga history. Edmundo Suarez, well known as Mundo, was a Valencia legend who popularised the position of the muscular center-forward. However, the Spanish Civil War prevented the rest of the world from seeing him in his prime.
His contract with Athletic Bilbao was deemed null and illegal by General Franco’s government, therefore the former footballer eventually moved to Valencia where he would play for the following 11 years. There, he averaged nearly one goal per game (0.91) and won the Pichichi trophy for the season’s top scorer for two consecutive seasons.
Before leaving the club to join CD Alcoyano for a single season, he would lead Los Che to three La Liga and two Copa del Rey victories. Suarez was one of Spain’s top players at the time, yet because other nations at the time refused to play them, his international experience was restricted to just three La Roja matches.
#9 Pahiño – 210 goals:
Manuel Fernandez Fernandez (also known as Pahio) spent a few seasons in Spain’s Segunda Division but still managed to score enough goals to crack the top 10. He played 12 seasons in La Liga’s top division, spending time with teams like Celta Vigo, Real Madrid, and Deportivo before concluding his career at Granada in the second division.
He played in the top division for 11 straight seasons, scoring just over 21 goals a season on average. Pahino never had a season with fewer than 14 goals, and he scored 35 goals for Los Blancos in 1951–1952.
Pahio was another physically strong striker with good footwork. He was a dedicated player as well as strong in the air. Additionally, he twice won the Pichichi, once each with Real Madrid and Celta Vigo. He only began to decline in prominence after Alfredo Di Stefano joined the team.
According to legend, he reportedly continued to play despite breaking his fibula (calf bone) in the 40th minute of a game. Moncho Encinas, the Cleta coach at the time, simply taped it up and convinced him to continue playing. By the time the game was over, sources state that Celta Vigo had won 4-1, and his fibula had even touched the bottom of his foot!
#8 Quini – 219 goals:
Enrique Castro González (aka Quini), who has won the La Liga Pichichi trophy five times—twice with Sporting Gijon and twice with Barcelona—is ranked No. 8 on our list of the top scorers in La Liga history. He did, however, establish himself as one of Spain’s greatest strikers of his day at Gijon, where he first gained notoriety.
He consistently scored ten or more goals per season while playing for Gijon, and in 1978/79 he even took home the Don Balón Award for finest Spanish player. But he didn’t begin earning awards until he moved to Barcelona. With the Blaugrana, he was able to capture two Copa del Rey championships and a UEFA Cup Winners Cup. Even though he joined them at age 31, he still enjoyed scoring goals in his first two seasons.
Quini nearly won the La Liga championship with Barcelona once, but during a pivotal stretch of the race when Barca only managed to pick up a single point in four games, he was abducted and detained for 25 days. But soon after they were eliminated from the title race, he was released uninjured.
#7 César Rodríguez Álvarez – 223 goals:
Cesar, whose career lasted 19 years and included 13 seasons with Barcelona, is ranked No. 7 on our list of the best La Liga scorers of all time. Even though he only ever won the Pichichi once in his career, he remained the club’s leading scorer for many years.
Despite joining Barcelona, he was compelled to join Granada on loan while serving his military obligation in Andalusia. But there was no turning around when he came back. In 11 of his years with Barcelona, he scored at least ten goals, and in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he won five La Liga championships.
He was a member of the group that also included László Kubala in the starting lineup. After joining Cultural Deportiva Leonesa, he would never play in the Spanish top division once more. He was the fourth-highest goal scorer in La Liga at the time of his retirement.
#6 Alfredo Di Stéfano – 227 goals:
Alfredo Di Stefano is cited in the same sentence as players like Pele and fellow countryman Diego Maradona when discussing the best athletes of all time, even though he also represented Colombia and Spain. His arrival in Madrid marked the beginning of a period of domination in Europe and Spain.
Between 1955/56 and 1959/60, Di Stefano guided Real Madrid to the first five European championships, winning each one while tallying seven goals overall. He has also won the Pichichi trophy five times and eight league championships.
Di Stefano was a forward to be feared and possibly one of the best all-around footballers of all time, scoring over 28 goals on average every season. When he first arrived in Spain, he nearly joined Barcelona.
Real Madrid entered the scene only after the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) intervened and alleged that his transfer was illegal. Conspiracy theorists even asserted that General Franco had meddled to bring Di Stefano to Madrid, although these claims have never been proven.
#5 Raúl González – 228 goals:
Raul’s acquisition by Real Madrid from Atletico Madrid was undoubtedly one of the league’s biggest coups in the present. Born and reared in Madrid, he switched from the red and white to a Blancos shirt after the cash-strapped Atletico academy closed. This was the beginning of a career that would solidify his legendary position in Spain.
Raul earned three Champions League trophies and six La Liga championships during his 16 seasons at Real Madrid. Along the way, he also established a club record by playing in 741 games while wearing a Madrid jersey (550 of which were in La Liga).
Raul may play as a support striker or as a line leader while donning his recognizable No. 7 jersey. Raul, who earned the moniker ‘El Ferrari’ for his grace and elegance on the pitch, carried the captain’s armband with honor for seven seasons before moving on to Schalke in 2010.
#4 Hugo Sánchez – 234 goals:
One of Mexico’s all-time finest players, Hugo Sanchez spent the majority of his career with Atletico Madrid and cross-town rival Real Madrid. Between 1985 and 1990, he won five Pichichi medals. He also thrice took home the Don Balon Award for Best Foreign Player in La Liga.
His gymnastics background allowed him to perform spectacular movements on the field, and he was an expert with the bicycle kick. He was an energetic center forward with a sharp eye for goals. Even during his goal celebrations, he performed a somersault and gave his sister, who competed in the 1976 Olympics, a fist pump.
Sanchez is also credited by FIFA as having invented the “Scorpion Kick,” having practiced it numerous times in practice. He never had the opportunity to use the move in a competitive match, though.
#3 Telmo Zarra – 251 goals:
Telmo Zarra may have lost the top rank in recent years after dominating La Liga’s goal-scoring charts for 59 years. However, with six victories between 1944–1945 and 1952–1953, he continues to hold the La Liga record for the most Pichichi awards.
Despite having five Copa del Rey victories with the team, he only ever won the league once, in 1943.
Had he not been asked to serve in the military for a period during the 1941–1942 season, he might have scored more goals. His achievements haven’t gone unnoticed, either, as David Villa was the first recipient of the Zarra Trophy in 2006, which is given annually to the Spanish player with the most goals in La Liga.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo – 311 goals:
When the Portuguese attacker established himself at Manchester United before making the then-record transfer to Real Madrid in 2009, he had already solidified his place among the greats. And after donning the spotless white shirt, he stopped turning around.
Ronaldo, who is the only player in the top 10 to average more than one goal per game, has broken records left, right, and center. For a period, Raul led Real Madrid in goals scored, but Ronaldo surpassed Raul’s total in only half as many games.
In what has grown to be a competitive race against Lionel Messi and, more recently, Luis Suarez, Ronaldo has won the Pichichi trophy three times in La Liga. Real Madrid spent £80 million because they were so determined to win their tenth Champions League championship, and it paid off when he brought them an incredible four titles during his stint in the Spanish capital.
Ronaldo headed to Juventus in the summer of 2019 with 311 La Liga goals to his name after a fantastic time in Spain. The Portuguese legend has kept scoring goals in Turin as he seeks to make an impression on Italy.
#1 Lionel Messi – 438* goals:
After Lionel Messi inevitably hangs up his boots, his record might endure. Cristiano Ronaldo, his closest rival, is presently playing for Juventus, and Messi shows no signs of slowing down.
Messi, unquestionably the most talented player of his generation, has represented the Blaugrana in 10 La Liga and four Champions League championships.
When Barcelona crushed Real Madrid 6-2, Pep Guardiola turned him into a beast in the false nine position. Since then, Messi has broken so many records that there are now two separate eras of the sport: before Messi and after Messi. He might not leave the pitch as the player with the most goals scored, but he will be remembered as one of the best players ever.
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