The 2016/17 season has begun with a bang, with the Bundesliga, English Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A experiencing some hyper-competitive times at the top of the league. Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Real Madrid, OGC Nice and Juventus are top of their respective leagues, but not all of them are the highest scoring clubs in their respective leagues.European football has seen some amazing goal-scoring feats this season, with a veritable feast of attacking football on display across all the leagues. La Liga has the most goals scored so far with 329 goals, with Serie A surprisingly 2nd with 326 goals scored, albeit with an extra round of games. The Premier League has seen the net bulge 306 times, with Ligue 1 narrowly behind on 302, while the 18-team Bundesliga has had 255 goals scored so far in 10 games.
Here are the 5 best goal-scoring clubs currently, during the November 2016 international break (Stats updated as of November 16, 2016)
#5 Borussia Dortmund – 2.5 GPG
The Schwarzgelben currently sit 5th in the table, but what can be of some comfort to their fans is that Borussia Dortmund is undoubtedly the most exciting team to watch in the Bundesliga. Dortmund have scored a stunning 25 goals in 10 games, or about 2.5 goals every game, although a leaky defence which has conceded 12 goals so far has meant that Borussia only have 18 points from 10 games.
In a run that has seen them with a record of 5 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses, Dortmund have picked up some seriously amazing scorelines, including a 6-0 hammering of SV Darmstadt, a 5-1 win away to Werder Bremen and a 5-2 drubbing of Hamburg in their previous game, which is 60% of their goals in the league so far in just 3 games.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang tops the goal-scoring charts for Dortmund and across Europe, racking up 11 goals in 9 appearances already. Apart from their Gabonese talisman, Thomas Tuchel’s side has spread the goals, with Adrian Ramos, Christian Pulisic, Gonzalo Castro, Ousmane Dembele and even defenders Lukasz Piszczek and Raphael Guerreiro all racking up two goals each.
#4 Liverpool – 2.72 GPG
The Reds have risen to the top of a closely-fought Premier League table with 8 wins so far, with the biggest reason for their success so far being their attacking threat. Liverpool have scored 30 goals in a mere 11 games so far, at a rate of 2.72 goals per game – their defence has also conceded 14 goals, which means that games involving Liverpool are the most exciting, averaging 4 goals every game so far.
With just 2 draws and a single loss, Liverpool have been the standout team of the Premier League season so far, racking up some impressive wins. The three biggest margins of victory for Liverpool have come against Watford (6-1), Hull (5-1) and defending champions Leicester City (4-1). The Reds have scored 50% of their goals (15) in these three games.
Sadio Mane tops the goal-scoring charts for Liverpool, racking up 6 goals so far. What is interesting about Jurgen Klopp’s side is that they have spread the goals among multiple players, with Brazilian pair Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino both scoring 5 times. Surprisingly, James Milner has found the net four times, followed by Adam Lallana’s three goals in the league.
#3 Real Madrid – 2.81 GPG
Real Madrid are currently in the midst of one of their best unbeaten runs of all-time, but despite that have been scoring for fun, topping La Liga with 27 points so far. Los Blancos are extremely prolific in the league, scoring 31 times in 11 games so far, averaging about 2.81 goals every game.
Madrid’s presence in this list owes a lot to their game against Real Betis, with their opponents hammered 6-1. A 5-2 win early in the season against Osasuna and a 4-1 win over Deportivo Alaves round out their three biggest winning margins of the season, with 15 goals, slightly less than 50% of their goals coming in 27% of their games so far.
Given Cristiano Ronaldo’s poor form this season, it is a bit surprising to see him top the scoring charts for Madrid, but it owes a lot to the record-breaking hat-trick he scored against Deportivo Alaves to bring his tally to 5 goals so far. Gareth Bale joins Ronaldo with 5 goals scored so far, closely followed by Alvaro Morata and Karim Benzema on 4 goals each.
What is really interesting about Zinedine Zidane’s side is that 14 members of their squad have already scored in La Liga this season, which bodes well for their season, as they are not reliant on a single group of goal-scorers.
#2 Barcelona – 2.90 GPG
Barcelona might be second in La Liga, as two losses have seen them drop points with 25 garnered so far, but the Catalan club are the highest scoring team in Spain, just. The Blaugrana have scored 32 times in 11 games of the 2016/17 season, at a rate of 2.90 goals per game. Barcelona have also conceded 13 times, making them the 3rd best team involved in the most goals (45) across Europe’s top 5 leagues.
Barcelona began the season with a bang, hammering Real Betis 6-2 in the opening game of the season. Two impressive drubbings away to La Liga minnows like CD Leganes (5-1) and Sporting Gijon (5-1) have meant that Barcelona have scored 50% of their goals in 27% of the games they have played this season in La Liga.
Unsurprisingly, Luis Suarez and Leo Messi top the goal-scoring charts for Barcelona with 8 goals each. However, Neymar has been superseded by Rafinha, with the youngster scoring 5 goals to Neymar’s 4. Together, Barcelona’s MSN trio account for 62.5% of the total goals scored by the Catalans this season.
#1 AS Monaco – 3 GPG
AS Monaco are the surprise package of Europe this season in terms of goal-scoring, which has seen them move to 2nd place in the Ligue 1 table, behind another surprise this year, OGC Nice. Les Rouges et Blancs have scored a staggering 36 times this season in 12 games, which amounts to 3 goals every game.
The Ligue 1 side have racked up some absolutely amazing scorelines this season, including a massive 7-0 win over FC Metz, a 6-0 win over Nancy and a 6-2 win over Montpellier. Thus, Monaco have scored about 53% of their goals in just 25% of the games they have played so far.
What’s absolutely amazing about Monaco is that their right-back, Fabinho tops the goal-scoring charts with 5 goals. Falcao closely follows him with 4 goals, yet what is truly remarkable about the Monegasques’ goal-scoring is that 13 players have scored for them this season, including 4 defenders.