While Barcelona’s 3-1 win against Rayo Vallecano wasn’t one to particularly remember for Lionel Messi, he still went on to have a huge impact in the match as he scored one and assisted one goal at the Camp Nou to make him the best in both departments in Europe’s top five leagues. After Raul De Tomas’ opener for Vallecano, Messi inspired Barcelona’s comeback as Gerard Pique headed in from the Argentinean’s free-kick. Messi then converted a penalty from the spot to put Barcelona ahead in the game for the first time after Nelson Semedo was fouled in the area.
The penalty he scored took him to 26 goals in 25 matches of this campaign, two ahead of Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe.
Messi’s eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo is fourth in rankings. Here’s the list of nine of the highest goalscoring footballers in Europe’s top five leagues at the moment:
- Lionel Messi: 26 in 25 matches
- Kylian Mbappe: 24 in 21 matches
- Fabio Quagliarella: 19 in 25 matches
- Cristiano Ronaldo: 19 in 26 matches
- Sergio Agüero: 18 in 26 matches
- Luis Suarez: 17 in 26 matches
- Robert Lewandowski: 17 in 24 matches
- Harry Kane: 17 in 26 matches
- Mohamed Salah: 17 in 29 matches
Meanwhile, Messi also ensured that he reached the top of European standings in terms of assists too. Here are eight superstars who have provided the highest assists in the Europe’s top five leagues:
1. Lionel Messi: 12 in 25 matches
2. Eden Hazard: 11 in 27 matches
3. Jadon Sancho: 10 in 25 matches
4. Joshua Kimmich: 10 in 25 matches
5. Ryan Fraser: 10 in 30 matches
6. Sebastien Haller: 9 in 24 matches
7. Leroy Sane: 9 in 25 matches
8. Pablo Sarabia: 9 in 25 matches
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