Kane in tenth place ahead of Bayern move - The players with the most goals in the 21st century

Football has always been a team sport but few could doubt that the limelight and much of the praise is often reserved for the players that stick the ball in the back of the net. Goalkeepers are stalwarts between the posts, defenders and midfielders can dominate games, but only a striker can win a match with his expertise in front of goal. And there have undoubtedly been some outstanding goalscorers over the course of the 21st century. 

Indeed, the last 15 years of European football have been dominated by two goal scorers in particular: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Between them, they have scored an incredible 1594 goals in 2071 games across six of the continent’s best leagues. And while few could doubt the stranglehold the pair have had over the sport, they do have some intriguing rivals to contend with when it comes to scoring goals. 

For example, Barcelona forward Robert Lewandowski sits third behind the pair with 559 goals in 750 games, followed by Luis Suárez and Sergio Agüero in fourth and fifth place respectively. And when it comes to pliers that could still move further up the top 10 the most likely contender is none other than Harry Kane, who sits tenth in the list with 338 goals in 524 games. With 221 goals standing between the England international and third place, it will be interesting to see just how high Kane can go now that he is set to join Bayern Munich. 

The players with the most goals in the 21st century