Europe’s Most Prolific Veterans: Lazio Star Pedro Lands Second Behind Lewandowski | OneFootball

Lazio forward Pedro is currently second in the scoring charts among players over the age of 35 who ply their trade in Europe’s Top Five leagues.

While the Biancocelesti have revamped their squad in the summer by replacing the likes of Ciro Immobile, Luis Alberto and Felipe Anderson with younger profiles, the 2010 World Cup winner stayed firm at Formello. New Lazio boss Marco Baroni was adamant about keeping the Spaniard in the club, in what turned out to be a wise call.

Superb Early-Season Form

In his 11 outings across all competitions, Pedro has scored six goals and provided two assists, proving to be an added value as well as a winning card for Lazio. Hence, the club’s president Claudio Lotito would be happy to extend the veteran’s contract beyond the current campaign, a notion that is also sponsored by Baroni who be happy to keep the experienced star at least for another year.

The former Barcelona and Chelsea star has also been displaying his great versatility in the team’s 4-2-3-1 system. While he spent most of his career playing as a winger, Pedro has been excelling in the attacking-midfielder role as of late. This was the case in his most recent outing against Porto when he ended up scoring the last-gasp winner that set the Stadio Olimpico on fire.

Europa League Specialist

That strike extended the attacker’s golden run in the Europa League, as he has now found the back of the net in three consecutive European fixtures for the first time since 2011, back when he used to ply his trade in Pep Guardiola’s record-chattering Blaugrana side.

Pedro Lands Second Only Behind Lewandowski

According to Il Corriere dello Sport, Pedro’s early-season exploits put him second on the list of goalscorers above the age of 35 in Europe’s Top Five Leagues. The 2010 World Cup winner has six goals in his tally thus far this season, so he’s only behind Barcelona hitman Robert Lewandowski who has already bagged a whopping 19 goals across all competitions since the start of the season.

The Pole’s numbers are certainly unattainable but it shouldn’t take anything away from Pedro who has been sensational in his own right, while taking into account the fact that he isn’t even a centre-forward.

As the source notes, the experienced Lazio man has outscored fellow legends like Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller and Leicester City idol Jamie Vardy, at least at this stage of the season.