Between them, these ten deadly practitioners in the art of goal-getting scored 3948 career goals for their clubs and country. They won Golden Shoes, Ballon d’Ors and World Cups. They struck fear into defenders across the globe.
Was Barcelona lucky to have them, or were they fortunate to play for such an esteemed institution? Such is their enduring stature, it’s probably more the former.
Patrick Kluivert 1998 - 2004
Admittedly there is a recency bias in the Dutchman edging out Paulino Alcantara and Mariano Martin, two striking legends who still shine bright from the club’s very distant past.
Elsewhere, David Villa and Rivaldo have solid cases while, crucially, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff were inducted into our greatest Barcelona midfielders pantheon.
If that is a lot of caveats before we get to Kluivert’s virtues perhaps that does him a disservice. He is in on merit. He was brilliant.
After spearheading Ajax’s ‘Golden Generation’ of the Nineties, the 6ft 3 forward went to Catalonia and fired just shy of a goal every two games across six seasons.
Romario 1993 – 1995
When asked who the finest player was he ever coached John Cruyff was spoilt for choice. From his ‘Dream Team’ at Barcelona alone there was Hristo Stoichkov and Michael Laudrup, while Ronald Koeman and Frank Rijkaard were both exemplary exponents of their craft.
Returning to the frontline, how about Denis Bergkamp or Marco Van Basten, the latter under Cruyff’s charge for a season at Ajax.
Yet the great man plumped for Romario, despite the fact the pair were not on speaking terms at the time.
The Brazilian firework found the back of the net every 121 minutes for Blaugrana. For two years he was sensational.
Robert Lewandowski 2022 - Present
The prolific Pole joined Barcelona a month short of his 34th birthday, after breaking every record going in the Bundesliga. On seven occasions he was the leading goal scorer in the German top-flight. Twice he won the European Golden Shoe.
Naturally enough his phenomenal strike-rate has continued at a pace in Spain. At present, he has fired 73 goals in 110 outings which is more than Ibrahimovic and Romario combined, despite joining as a veteran.
Had ‘Lewy’ signed for the Catalan giant on leaving Borussia Dortmund in 2014 he would be second on this list for sure.
Ronaldo 1996 - 1997
In terms of ability, there is not six former Barcelona forwards better than Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima. He was, after all, nicknamed the ‘Phenomenon’ for good reason.
The Brazilian however did only wear the famed blue and red for a single season and that has to count against him, even if he did strike 47 times in 51 appearances.
A handful of those 47 could be sent to the far reaches of space to warn aliens never to mess with us.
Samuel Eto’o 2004 - 2009
If four African Player of the Year awards isn’t enough to persuade a sceptic that Eto’o wasn’t simply an exceptional forward but a true great of the modern era then consider the following.
On taking the reins at Barcelona in 2008, one of the first things Pep Guardiola did was state that Ronaldinho, Deco and Eto’o were not part of his plans. By the season’s end only one of this trio remained, the Indomitable Lion going on to score in that year’s Champions League final.
He was so good he made the infamously intractable Guardiola change his opinion. Eto’o had previously scored in another Champions League final too, for good measure.
Luis Suarez 2014 - 2020
With an otherworldly front three of Neymar, Messi and Suarez was it any wonder that Barcelona topped the football betting each and every season from 2014 on? Blaugrana won four La Ligas in this period. At times they were untouchable.
Unsurprisingly, Suarez was always front and centre of this fantasia of football, a volatile, inventive and dynamic presence who conjured up goals from half-chances as the norm.
Bagging 147 goals in 191 outings, he left for the MLS a legend.
Ronaldinho 2003 - 2008
At the turn of the century, Barcelona were in the doldrums, relatively speaking of course. In 2002/03 they finished sixth in the league, their lowest posting since 1942.
It was decided by the club’s hierarchy that they needed to sign one of three players, those being Thierry Henry, David Beckham or Ronaldinho from PSG. Henry remained at Arsenal, Beckham joined Real Madrid, but they got their third choice and in doing so never looked back.
Irrepressible and with magic in his boots, the Brazilian Ballon d’Or winner is credited with transforming Barca’s fortunes, setting them on the right path for the Guardiola-infused dominance that was to come.
His goal tally of 70 in 145 games at Camp Nou is impressive but with Ronaldinho it wasn’t solely about the end product. It was the alchemy he produced that inspired a whole club to stand tall again.
César Rodríguez 1939 - 1955
A lethal instrument in the famed Barcelona side that claimed five trophies in a single campaign, César Rodríguez Álvarez’s consistency most grabs the attention.
For 11 seasons he topped double figures for league goals scored, racking up an ultimate tally that remained unsurpassed at Camp Nou until a certain diminutive Argentine exploded onto the scene over half a century later.
It’s mid-blowing to learn that he was an unused member of Spain’s 1950 World Cup collective, though the player ahead of him – six-time Pichichi winner Telmo Zarra – wasn’t too shabby either.
László Kubala 1951 - 1961
Situated on the esplanade outside Camp Nou’s main stand is a statue of a bricklayer’s son from Budapest.
A meeting point for fans, and a photo op for tourists, this striking great is forever cast in bronze, his left foot planted, his other leg swung dramatically back high. Presumably he is about to bang in another goal for Blaugrana because that’s what he did for a decade and more. One hundred and ninety-six times.
In 1949, Kubala fled Soviet-occupied Hungary in the back of a truck. Soon after, he was asked to play for Torino, in a friendly in Portugal but reluctantly had to decline when his son fell ill. The plane taking Il Toro back from that game crashed into the Superga mountain, killing 31 on board.
Soon after that he signed for Barcelona and began converting goals on a regular basis, an integral figure in one of the best teams the club has ever produced.
Lionel Messi 2004 - 2021
“He is from another planet.” “I’m not sure he is human.” “He is God.”
When the mortal world confuses us we tend to look up to find our answers, and these quotes from team-mates of the Argentine GOAT illustrate this.
In our millions we would tune in, and watch in awe and befuddlement as this little man – who was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency as a child – bewitched elite opposition, before scoring a goal that scrambled the senses. We simply didn’t have a yardstick to measure such greatness by, so inevitably we would turn to the heavens.
Messi became Barcelona’s all-time leading goal-scorer aged just 24. For a generation he was the principle reason why his team topped the sports betting in every competition they entered. He was the reason for the trophies and the glory.
He walked among us but he wasn’t like anyone else.
