Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar: The 40 players with the most goals in the 21st century | OneFootball

Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest goalscorer in the history of men’s professional football.

During the 2021/22 season with Manchester United, the Portuguese superstar surpassed Josef Bican’s haul of 805 goals for club and country.

Ronaldo‘s memorable hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on March 12th saw him take top spot outright and it’s without question one of sport’s greatest ever achievements.

To score over 800 goals in the modern era almost beggars belief, with Barcelona legend Lionel Messi closing in on 800 himself.

The two Ballon d’Or hoarders are comfortably the two greatest goalscorers of the 21st century, but when it comes to the art of finding the back of the net, it’s not just all about Ronaldo and Messi.

Those trailing the pair deserve to have some time in the spotlight as well and the folks over at PopFoot will help us do just that for them.

The stats-based Twitter account have named the 40 players with the most goals for club and country since the turn of the millenium.

On top of that, they’ve included the goals-per-game ratio for each footballer mentioned.

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Check out their data here…

The 40 players with the most goals for club and country in the 21st century

40. Raul Gonzalez | 279 goals (0.40 goals-per-game)

39. Mohamed Salah | 279 goals (0.48 goals-per-game)

38. Dieumerci Mbokani | 279 goals (0.49 goals-per-game)

37. Roberto Soldado | 281 goals (0.40 goals-per-game)

36. Alvaro Negredo | 283 goals (0.40 goals-per-game)

35. Thomas Muller | 287 goals (0.37 goals-per-game)

34. Antonio Di Natale | 296 goals (0.46 goals-per-game)

33. Olivier Giroud | 297 goals (0.40 goals-per-game)

32. Youssef El Arabi | 300 goals (0.52 goals-per-game)

31. Fernando Torres | 301 goals (0.34 goals-per-game)

30. Claudio Pizarro | 301 goals (0.39 goals-per-game)

29. Miroslav Klose | 301 goals (0.41 goals-per-game)

28. Andre-Pierre Gignac | 312 goals (0.44 goals-per-game)

27. Diego Forlan | 313 goals (0.38 goals-per-game)

26. Harry Kane | 314 goals (0.60 goals-per-game)

25. Carlos Tevez | 322 goals (0.39 goals-per-game)

24. Dimitar Berbatov | 322 goals (0.44 goals-per-game)

23. Robin van Persie | 323 goals (0.46 goals-per-game)

22. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | 331 goals (0.51 goals-per-game)

21. Romelu Lukaku | 333 goals (0.51 goals-per-game)

20. Radamel Falcao | 336 goals (0.53 goals-per-game)

19. Mario Gomez | 337 goals (0.50 goals-per-game)

18. Gonzalo Higuain | 352 goals (0.46 goals-per-game)

17. Ruud van Nistelrooy | 355 goals (0.77 goals-per-game)

16. Thierry Henry | 361 goals (0.50 goals-per-game)

15. Wayne Rooney | 366 goals (0.41 goals-per-game)

14. Didier Drogba | 366 goals (0.46 goals-per-game)

13. Edin Dzeko | 383 goals (0.44 goals-per-game)

12. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar | 408 goals (0.55 goals-per-game)

10. Samuel Eto’o | 424 goals (0.48 goals-per-game)

9. Karim Benzema | 426 goals (0.50 goals-per-game)

8. Sergio Aguero | 429 goals (0.54 goals-per-game)

7. Edinson Cavani | 430 goals (0.55 goals-per-game)

6. David Villa | 438 goals (0.51 goals-per-game)

5. Luis Suarez | 521 goals (0.61 goals-per-game)

4. Zlatan Ibrahimovic | 572 goals (0.58 goals-per-game)

3. Robert Lewandowski | 601 goals (0.72 goals-per-game)

2. Lionel Messi | 769 goals (0.79 goals-per-game)

So. Many. Goals.

Messi currently trails eternal rival Ronaldo by 46 goals, but the Argentine does possess the best goals-per-game ratio of any player on the 40-man list.

Ronaldo doesn’t even finish second in that regard either. Instead, it’s United icon Van Nistelrooy, which further highlights how underrated he is in the present day.

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