Messi & Ronaldo: The best goal-per-game ratio at the 20 most valuable clubs
Goals-per-game is a great metric for analysing how good an attack-minded footballer is.
Averaging around 0.50 goals-per-game at the very highest level is mighty impressive, while those who surpass the 0.75 mark can only be described as world-class – and even then that is something of an understatement.
Unsurprisingly, both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are two footballers to boast a better ratio than 0.75 goals-per-game at one of Europe’s biggest clubs.
But are there any others? Well, we decided to try and find out the answers to that question.
Below, we’ve worked out the player with the best goals-per-game ratio at each of the world’s 20 most valuable clubs, as listed on Transfermarkt.
To make things easier and more relevant to the modern era, only goals scored from the 1999/2000 season onwards have been taken into account.
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Check out our findings in full…
Manchester City
Sergio Aguero | 260 goals | 0.67 goals-per-game
Paris Saint-Germain
Zlatan Ibrahimovic | 156 goals | 0.87 goals-per-game
Liverpool
Mohamed Salah | 155 goals | 0.62 goals-per-game
Chelsea
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink | 87 goals | 0.49 goals-per-game
Bayern Munich
Robert Lewandowski | 344 goals | 0.92 goals-per-game
Real Madrid
Cristiano Ronaldo | 450 goals | 1.03 goals-per-game
Manchester United
Ruud van Nistelrooy | 150 goals | 0.69 goals-per-game
Barcelona
Lionel Messi | 672 goals | 0.86 goals-per-game
Atletico Madrid
Radamel Falcao | 70 goals | 0.77 goals-per-game
Tottenham Hotspur
Harry Kane | 247 goals | 0.64 goals-per-game
Borussia Dortmund
Erling Braut Haaland | 86 goals | 0.97 goals-per-game
Juventus
Cristiano Ronaldo | 101 goals | 0.75 goals-per-game
Inter Milan
Romelu Lukaku | 64 goals | 0.67 goals-per-game
Arsenal
Thierry Henry | 228 goals | 0.61 goals-per-game
Leicester City
Jamie Vardy | 163 goals | 0.43 goals-per-game
Napoli
Edinson Cavani | 104 goals | 0.75 goals-per-game
AC Milan
Zlatan Ibrahimovic | 92 goals | 0.58 goals-per-game
RB Leipzig
Timo Werner | 95 goals | 0.60 goals-per-game
Everton
Romelu Lukaku | 87 goals | 0.52 goals-per-game
Bayer Leverkusen
Patrik Schick | 37 goals | 0.55 goals-per-game
So, Ibrahimovic, Lewandowski, Falcao, Haaland and Cavani all join Messi and Ronaldo in hitting 0.75 goals-per-game or better at one club – Ronaldo achieving that feat at both Real Madrid and Juventus.
The 37-year-old superstar isn’t the only player to feature on the list twice, though. He’s joined in that regard by both Ibrahimovic (PSG & Milan) and Lukaku (Inter & Everton).
Perhaps a timely reminder that while Lukaku has struggled at Chelsea this season, he’s still an elite-level striker.