Salah overtakes Drogba: Which African players have the most goals in Europe?

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·28 October 2022

Salah overtakes Drogba: Which African players have the most goals in Europe?

Mohamed Salah certainly hasn’t hit the heights expected of him in the Premier League so far this season.

Like Liverpool as a whole, the Egyptian superstar has been well below-par, scoring just three goals in 11 appearances.

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But while he’s struggled to a degree in the Premier League, Salah has managed to thrive on the UEFA Champions League stage.

Salah opened the scoring for Liverpool in their 3-0 win away at Ajax on Wednesday evening, his sixth goal in Europe’s top-tier competition in 2022/23 thus far.

The former Chelsea and AS Roma man bagged from the penalty spot in the Reds’ home victory over Rangers, before netting the fastest Champions League hat-trick of all-time in the reverse fixture.

In Liverpool’s 7-1 demolition job at Ibrox, Salah found the back of the net three times in just six minutes and 12 seconds after coming on as a substitute.

Not bad, Mo.

Salah sets yet another record

After recording an ultra-fast treble in Glasgow, Salah set another impressive record with his strike in Amsterdam.

The 30-year-old has now overtaken Chelsea legend Didier Drogba as the leading African goalscorer in European competitions.

That’s according to data collected by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, who are about as reliable as it gets in the footballing sphere.

Let’s take a look at their list of the leading scorers from exclusively African nations in European competitions…

Which African players have the most goals in European competitions?

9. Seydou Doumbia (Ivory Coast)

Games: 50 | Goals: 28

8. Frederic Kanoute (Mali)

Games: 70 | Goals: 31

7. Benni McCarthy (South Africa)

Games: 76 | Goals: 32

6. Sadio Mane (Senegal)

Games: 82 | Goals: 35

5. George Weah (Liberia)

Games: 62 | Goals: 35

4. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon)

Games: 92 | Goals: 42

3. Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)

Games: 113 | Goals: 48

2. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast)

Games: 102 | Goals: 50

Mohamed Salah (Egypt)

Games: 115 | Goals: 51

Unless Mane or Aubameyang go on an absolute mad one on the European stage in the next couple of years, Salah’s place at the top of the pile looks safe for the foreseeable future.

A breakdown of Salah’s goals in European competition

Of Salah’s 51 goals, 42 have come in the Champions League, while four of them were scored in the Champions League qualifying rounds with FC Basel and Liverpool.

The other five came in the Europa League, with Salah rippling the back of the net in that tournament in a Basel, Roma and Fiorentina shirt.