Who are the top scorers in La Liga history? Find out in this comprehensive guide, where we rank the greatest goalscorers to ever grace the Spanish league.
Several hitmen have played in Spanish La Liga, and the best-ever strikers to have played the game have at one time or the other turned out in La Liga.
Who wouldn’t want to play for Barcelona and Real Madrid, the best clubs want the best players, Delima Ronaldo, Samuel Eto’o, Raul, Figo and many others.
The best of them all undoubtedly are the duo of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. They sit on top of the highest goalscorers list in the La Liga but who are the 8 others?
10 Top Scorers In La Liga – All-Time
Here are the 10 highest goal scorers of all time in the Spanish La Liga.
1Lionel Messi – 474 Goals
- Games: 520
- Club: Barcelona
The Argentina and Barcelona legend came in silently into the La Liga unknown but left for PSG, unexpectedly, leaving records broken, shattered and made in his wake.
One of them is the number of goals scored with 474 in 520 matches he played for the Camp Nou side.
The closest to Lionel Messi is Portuguese legend Ronaldo but even though he has just over 300, and has left Real Madrid, the closest active player in the La Liga to breaking Messi’s record is Karim Benzema.
2Cristiano Ronaldo – 311 Goals
- Games: 292
- Clubs: Real Madrid
Well, it appears as though, everywhere Messi went Ronaldo follows and vice versa. So it’s not a surprise that the Portuguese star is second on the list.
Ronaldo’s La Liga goals record is so spectacular it is a 1.07 ratio per game with his 311 in 292 games.
3Telmo Zarra – 251 Goals
- Games: 277
- Club: Athletic Club
Telmo Zarra last played in the La Liga in 1995 but he held the highest goalscorer record in the league in 2014.
He won the top scorer award six times and shares the same goals-per-game ratio with Messi with a 0.91 goal per game having scored 251 in 277 games.
4Hugo Sánchez – 234 Goals
- Games: 347
- Clubs: Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Rayo Vallecano
The Mexican striker played for three clubs during his playing days including the two main capital clubs.
However, it was with Real Madrid he played most of his games with 164 in 207 matches at the Los Blancos, 54 goals in 111 games for Atlético Madrid, and a paltry 16 goals in 29 for Rayo Vallecano for a combined 234 goals in 347 appearances.
5Raúl González Blanco – 228 Goals
- Games: 550
- Club: Real Madrid
15 years, 550 league games for Real Madrid, 228 goals in La Liga, Raul certainly enjoyed his time as the highest goal scorer in all competitions for the Los Blancos before the advent of Cristiano Ronaldo and now French striker Karim Benzema.
Currently, he sits third in Real Madrid’s record goals scorer list behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema.
6Alfredo di Stéfano – 227 Goals
- Games: 329
- Clubs: Espanyol and Real Madrid
Everybody knows Alfredo di Stefano with Real Madrid but the legendary striker also featured for Espanyol in La Liga even though he had a paltry 11 goals in 47 games for them.
With Real Madrid, the case is totally different with 216 goals in 282 matches.
7Karim Benzema – 222 goals
- Games: 419
- Club: Real Madrid
Of all the 10 players on this list, Karim Benzema is the only one active in the La Liga presently and if he has a good season he stands the chance of finishing the season in the top 5 on this list.
The French striker joined Real Madrid from Lyon in 2009 and stands a good chance of finishing third in La Liga’s all-time scorer’s list even if Messi and Ronaldo’s statistics look far away.
8César Rodríguez – 221 Goals
- Games: 353
- Clubs: Granada (23/24), Barcelona (190/287), Cultural Leonesa (3/15), Elche (5/27)
Cesar Rodriguez featured four teams but his time at Barcelona provided the most number of goals with 190 coming from his 287 games at the club.
He had an impressive 23 goals in 24 games for Granada but his time at Cultural Leonesa and Elche provided a combined 8 goals in 42 games.
9Enrique Castro, ‘Quini‘ – 219 Goals
- Games: 448
- Clubs: Sporting Gijón (165/348), Barcelona (54/100)
Castro was more of a Sporting Gijon legend than he was at Barcelona, understandably having played 348 games and scored 165 goals.
This is in contrast to the 54 he scored in 100 for Barcelona although it is still a decent ratio for a striker.
The last of his 448 La Liga games was in 1960 but he has scored enough goals to still remain in the top 10.
10Pahiño – 210 Goals
- Games: 278
- Clubs: Celta de Vigo (57/82), Real Madrid (111/124), Deportivo La Coruña (46/72)
Pahino may have played for three clubs Celta de Vigo (57/82), Real Madrid (111/124), and Deportivo La Coruña (46/72) but his record at Real Madrid is an astonishing 111 goals in 124 games.
This is not to say his stings at Celta and Deportivo were not brilliant either.
Article updated 2 months ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
