La Liga Top Scorers of All Time

Who are they really? We know that Messi tops the list of

highest goal scorers in La Liga history

, but what about the rest of the list? Are most of them Spanish or like

, there are other players from other nations on the list?

The truth is that there are also other players from other nations on the list of La Liga top scorers of all time, but most players on the list are from Spain.

And there is one player on the list who has gotten a goal-to-appearance ratio of more than 1 meaning that the number of his goals has exceeded the number of his appearances although by a narrow margin - that’s still an achievement and when achieved in La Liga it’s a great achievement!

A List of La Liga Top Scorers of All Time

Here comes a list of top scorers in La Liga history with Lionel Messi topping the list with a wide margin of more than 100 goals with the second position occupied by the Portuguese star, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Lionel Messi (474 Goals)

Number one and strongly number one of the list of

La Liga top scorers of all time

, Lionel Messi is not only the top scorer in La Liga history but also the only La Liga player to have become the Spanish league top scorer in 7 seasons and the only La Liga player to have scored 50 goals in a single La Liga season, namely 2011-12 season.

Despite all these achievements, Messi’s goal-to-appearance ratio, unfortunately, has not reached 1 - it’s actually 0.91. The 34-year-old Argentinian forward has scored his 474 

goals in 520 appearances which gets him the above-mentioned ratio (0.91). Although not one, a ratio of 0.91 means he has scored very close to one goal in every La Liga appearance he has made.

Messi's move to PSG means that this is actually his final record with La Liga and indeed Barcelona since he only served the top Spanish club while playing in La Liga. This is also a record that is not yet broken even by Cristiano Ronaldo who has also left La Liga.

Cristiano Ronaldo (311 Goals)

The only player on the list of La Liga top scorers of all time to have a goal-to-appearance ratio above 1 - actually 1.07, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 311 goals in his 292 La Liga appearances. That means he has scored a little bit more than one goal in every appearance he has made in La Liga, and like Messi, all these goals have been scored for only one club:

.

According to the fact that Ronaldo has not been all his career in La Liga, one might think that if he were, he would even score more goals than Messi. This is at least what is confirmed by the numbers. If we just multiply the number of appearances (292) by the goal-to-appearance ratio (1.07) we get the number of goals (311).

Now just imagine that Ronaldo had made the same number of appearances as Messi (485), then by the goal-to-appearance ratio he has (1.07), he would have get 518 goals, and could have replaced Messi on the list of

La Liga top goal scorers of all time

by a margin of 80 goals.

Telmo Zarra (251 Goals)

The first Spanish footballer on the list of La Liga top scorers of all time, Telmo Zarra is also the first dead footballer on the list. He passed away in February 2006 at the age of 85 due to a heart attack.

The only La Liga club Zarra played for during his footballing career was

which means all his 251 La Liga goals were scored for the same club.

Zarra scored all his 251 La Liga goals in 278 appearances he made in the Spanish major league between 1940 and 1955 which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.9 - near that of Messi - meaning that he scored almost one goal in every match, or more exactly, 9 goals in every 10 matches. And Zarra became La Liga top scorer in 6 seasons - only one less than Messi - in two sets of three consecutive seasons between 1944 and 1953.

Hugo Sanchez (234 Goals)

The only Mexican footballer on the list of La Liga top scorers of all time, Hugo Sanchez has scored a total of 234 goals in his 347 appearances in La Liga between 1981 and 1994 which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.67 meaning that the 62-year-old retired Mexican footballer has scored 2 goals in every 3 appearances he has had in La Liga.

And Sanchez has scored all his La Liga goals for three clubs: Real Madrid,

, and Rayo Vallecano with Real Madrid having a greater share of the Mexican forward’s goals: 164 goals which translates to 70% of all his La Liga goals. Sanchez also became the

Spanish league top scorer

in five seasons four of which were consecutive, namely from 1984 to 1988.

Raul (228 Goals)

The second Spanish footballer on the list of La Liga top scorers of all time, Raúl González Blanco, simply known as Raul, is a 43-year-old retired Spanish footballer who scored all his 228 La Liga goals for only one club: Real Madrid.

He scored this number of goals in 550 appearances which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.41 meaning that the Spanish footballer has scored 2 goals in every 5 appearances he has made in La Liga.

Raul was named La Liga's Best Spanish Player in 5 seasons and is a record holder in this concern - no other Spanish or non-Spanish player has ever broken his record, however, he has never become the Spanish league top scorer, although he has won 6 La Liga titles with Real Madrid from 1994 to 2008.

Alfredo Di Stefano (227 Goals)

Among

with 49 goals, Alfredo Di Stefano is also on the list of La Liga top scorers of all time with 227 goals scored in the 329 appearances he made in La Liga for two clubs: Real Madrid and Espanyol. And from among all his 227 La Liga goals, Di Stefano scored 216 goals for Real Madrid which comprises 95% of all his La Liga goals.

Based on the number of his La Liga goals (227) and the number of appearances (329) he has made in La Liga, Di Stefano gets a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.69 which means he scored a little more than four goals in every six appearances he made in La Liga.

Di Stefano is actually the second dead footballer on the list of scorers with

most goals in La Liga history

. He died in July 2014 at the age of 88 due to a heart attack.

Cesar Rodriguez (223 Goals)

Another dead footballer on the list of La Liga top scorers of all time, Cesar Rodriguez Alvarez, simply known as Cesar, scored 223 goals in his 353 appearances in

between 1939 and 1955 which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.63 meaning that the dead Spanish footballer scored a little bit more than three goals in every five appearances he made in La Liga.

And all Cesar’s La Liga goals were scored for only one club:

. He was actually Barcelona’s all-time highest goal scorer for 57 years until his goal scoring record was broken by Lionel Messi in March, 20, 2012. Cesar died in March 1995 at the age of 74.

Quini (219 Goals)

Like the two other Spanish and Argentinian footballers mentioned above, Enrique Castro Gonzalez, simply known as Quini is also one of the dead footballers on the list of La Liga highest goal scorers of all time.

Quini scored 219 goals in the 448 appearances he made in La Liga for Barcelona and Sporting de Gijon which gets him a ratio of 0.49 meaning that the Spanish striker scored one goal in every two appearances he made in La Liga.

Quini became La Liga top scorer in 5 seasons between 1973 and 1982. He was also named the best Spanish player by the Spanish sports magazine Don Balon in 1978-79 season. Despite these achievements, Quini never won a La Liga title during his footballing career. The Spanish footballer died in February 2018 at the age of 68 due to a heart attack.

Pahino (210 Goals)

Manuel Fernandez Fernandez, simply known as Pahino, is another Spanish footballer on the list of

La Liga highest goal scorers ever

who played only in La Liga during his career, just like Lionel Messi, but unlike Messi he actually served four teams: Celta, Real Madrid, Deportivo La Coruña, and Granada.

And during his career, Pahino scored 210 goals in 278 appearances he made in La Liga which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.76 meaning that the Spanish footballer scored 3 goals in every 4 appearances he made in La Liga.

Pahino also became La Liga top scorer in 1947-48 and 1951-52 seasons, but he never won a La Liga title with any of the teams he served during his career. The Spanish forward died in June 2012 at the age of 89.

Edmundo Suarez (195 Goals)

Having the highest goal-to-appearance ratio after

, Lionel Messi and Ferenc Puskas on the list of scorers with most goals in La Liga history, Edmundo Suarez scored 195 goals in his 231 appearances in La Liga between 1939 and 1951 which gets him a ratio of 0.84 meaning that the Spanish footballer scored a little bit more than four goals in every five appearances he made in La Liga.

Karim Benzema (226 Goals)

The only French footballer on the list of highest goal scorers in La Liga history with more than 200 goals,

has actually scored 226 goals in his 423 appearances in La Liga which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.53 meaning that the French footballer has scored a little bit more than one goal (exactly 1.02) in every two appearances he has made in La Liga.

And like some other footballers on the list of Spanish league top scorers of all time who have scored all their La Liga goals for only one club, Benzema has also done the same. He has scored all his La Liga goals for only one club: Real Madrid.

The 35-year-old French footballer is still serving Real Madrid - he’s been since 2009 - so he has still time to promote his position on the list of scorers with most goals in La Liga history.

Suarez actually made all his 231 La Liga appearances for two clubs:

 and Alcoyano with the former having a much bigger share of Suarez’s goals and appearances. From among all 195 goals Suarez scored in La Liga, 186 were scored for Valencia which translates to 95% of all his La Liga goals, and from among all his 231 La Liga appearances he made, 210 were made for Valencia (90% of all his La Liga appearances).

Suarez also won three La Liga titles with Valencia in 1941-42, 1943-44 and 1946-47 seasons in the first two of which he was also named La Liga top scorer of the season. 

One interesting fact about Suarez is that he only appeared three times for the Spanish national team and scored 3 goals for them (averagely one goal in each appearance). The Spanish footballer died in December 1978 at the age of 62.

Santillana (186 Goals)

The third footballer on the list of top scorers in La Liga history after Cristiano Ronaldo and Raul to have scored all his La Liga goals for

, Santillana has scored 186 goals in his 461 appearances for the La Liga club which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.4 meaning that the 67-year-old retired Spanish footballer has scored 2 goals in every 5 appearances he has made in La Liga.

Although Santillana has never become La Liga top scorer in a season - he’s actually become once in La Liga 2 in 1970-71 season, he has won 9 La Liga titles during his career, a record which is only lower than that of

.

David Villa (185 Goals)

Only one goal less than the 11th position on the list of

top La Liga goal scorers of all time

occupied by Santillana, David Villa has actually scored 185 goals in the 352 appearances he made in La Liga which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.53 meaning that he has scored a little bit more than one goal in every two appearances he has made in La Liga.

Villa scored all his La Liga goals for four clubs:

, Valencia, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid with the second on the list (Valencia) having the greatest share of Villa’s La Liga goals - actually 108 goals which translates to 58% of all the goals the recently retired Spanish forward has scored.

Villa never became La Liga top scorer during his career, but he became Valencia top scorer in five consecutive seasons, namely from 2005 to 2010, is Spain all-time top scorer with 59 goals, is also Spain's all-time top scorer in FIFA World Cup matches with 9 goals, and won two La Liga titles with Barcelona in 2010-11 and 2012-13 seasons.

Juan Arza (182 Goals)

The 13th position on the list of highest goal scorers in La Liga history belongs to Juan Arza who scored all his La Liga goals only for one club:

- between 1943 and 1959.

He actually scored 182 goals in 349 La Liga appearances he made for Sevilla which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.52 - near that of David Villa - meaning that he also scored a little bit more than one goal in every two appearances he made in La Liga.

Juan Arza is actually among the dead footballers on the list of La Liga highest goal scorers ever. He died in July 2011 in Seville at the age of 88. During his footballing career, Arza won only one La Liga title in 1945-46 season, and was named La Liga top scorer in 1954-55 season.

Guillermo Gorostiza (178 Goals)

A footballer with the problem of alcoholism on the list of

La Liga top scorers of all time

, Guillermo Gorostiza died actually in August 1996 in Bilbao at the age of 57. Because of Alcoholism? Maybe; we don’t know exactly; what we know for sure is that a nun found his dead body in Santa María en Santurce nursing house in August 1996 in Bilbao.

Anyway, the Spanish dead footballer scored 178 La Liga goals during his career which all were scored between 1929 and 1945 in the 256 appearances he made for only two clubs:

and Valencia.

That many goals (178) and the number of appearances Gorostiza made in La Liga (256) actually get him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.7 meaning that he scored almost five goals in every seven appearances he made in La Liga.

Gorostiza was also named La Liga top scorer in two seasons, namely 1929-30 and 1931-32 seasons, and won 4 and 2 La Liga titles (totally 6) with Atletico Bilbao and Valencia respectively during his career.

And the List of La Liga Highest Goal Scorers Ever Continues as Below

The list of

La Liga top scorers of all time

continues with names such as Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann. Here comes the rest of the list:

• Luis Suarez, Goals: 176, Apps: 258, Ratio: 0.69

• Samuel Eto'o, Goals: 162, Apps: 280, Ratio: 0.58

• Luis Aragones, Goals: 160, Apps: 360, Ratio: 0.44

• Aritz Aduriz, Goals: 158, Apps: 443, Ratio: 0.36

• Antoine Griezmann, Goals: 164, Apps: 436, Ratio: 0.38

• Ferenc Puskas, Goals: 156, Apps: 180, Ratio: 0.87

• Julio Salinas, Goals: 152, Apps: 417, Ratio: 0.36

• Adrian Escudero, Goals: 150, Apps: 287, Ratio: 0.52

• Daniel Ruiz, Goals: 147, Apps: 303, Ratio: 0.49

• Raul Tamudo, Goals: 146, Apps: 407, Ratio: 0.36

• Silvestre Igoa, Goals: 141, Apps: 284, Ratio: 0.5

• Manuel Badenes, Goals: 139, Apps: 201, Ratio: 0.69

• Juan Araujo, Goals: 139, Apps: 207, Ratio: 0.67

• Jose Mari Bakero, Goals: 139, Apps: 483, Ratio: 0.29

• Laszlo Kubala, Goals: 138, Apps: 215, Ratio: 0.64

READ MORE: