Attackers are the rock stars of football.
Blistering runs can get the fans off their feet, and so too can a crunching tackle. But when the ball hits the net, the roof comes off the stadium.
And that’s why the best goalscorers sell the most shirts; they cost the most money and are loved by their club, their team-mates, their head coach, the owners and, of course, the faithful hoards in the stands.
Every club needs a clinical striker. So let’s take a look at five of the best from the 2021/22 La Liga campaign.
Karim Benzema, Real Madrid
This French hitman, at the ripe old age of 34, is just getting better and better.
While the battle for world supremacy between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is all but over, and Mohamed Salah continues to win fans for Liverpool in the Premier League, while Robert Lewandowski re-writes history in Munich, Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema is the best of the lot on current form.
Benzema spearheaded the La Liga and Champions League winners’ attack brilliantly this season and led the race for the Golden Boot from the start of the campaign, eventually racking up 27 league goals. But, even more impressively, he was the Champions League top scorer with 15 strikes, two more than Lewandowski and seven more than Salah.
With eight assists, he has helped the young strikers alongside him but with 99 shots in the league season he never stops trying to increase his own tally.
Benzema is the player who has covered the most column inches in the media this season, including here at SBOTOP, and that won’t change until he hangs up his boots.
Vinicius Junior, Real Madrid
The La Liga 2022 betting oddsbacked Los Blancos throughout the campaign and with Benzema and Vinicius leading their attack, the league triumph was never in doubt.
And Benzema’s 21-year-old strike partner hit the winner in Los Blancos’ 1-0 win over Liverpool in the Champions League final. While Real were under the cosh for much of the game and keeper and Thibaut Courtois put in a man-of-the-match performance, it was Vinicius who bagged the crucial goal, just before the hour mark, turning in a low cross from the industrious Federico Valverde.
He scored a hat-trick in the recent destruction of Levante, which relegated the Granotes, and with 42 of his 80 shots on target, the young Brazil international has a sharp eye for goal.
Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti has been frustrated by the club’s failure to land either Erling Braut Haaland or Kylian Mbappe to join his attack, but with Benzema and Vinicius up front, he has time on his side.
Iago Aspas, Celta Vigo
With ten years as a youth player and 12 in the senior squad Iago Aspas is Mr Celta. He’s scored 121 goals in 225 games for his beloved club and he’s been at it again this term.
He scored Celta’s goal in a recent 3-1 defeat to Barcelona to make it 18 for the campaign and with six assists too, Aspas was La Liga’s second top scorer in the 2021/22 season.
At 34 years of age, he made it a one-two with Benzema at the top of the scorers’ charts and Aspas deserves to be there. Celta have flirted with relegation in recent years and without their talisman’s goals the team would have finished below a comfortable 11th place.
Jose Luis Morales, Levante
34 years seems to be a good age for La Liga strikers as Levante forward Jose Luis Morales has proved as he has bagged 13 goals and made seven assists for his club. But unlike Aspas, he has been unable to save them from the drop. With 32 of his 76 shots on target, Morales is a skilful striker who belongs in the Primera Division.
The 6-0 thumping at the hands of Real Madrid sent Levante through the relegation trapdoor. Two wins in the last two games couldn’t save them and in the end Levante’s La Liga 2022 resultssimply were not good enough, but Morales’ goals were a beacon of hope throughout the campaign.
Joao Felix, Atletico Madrid
As Diego Simeone guided Los Rojiblancos into the Champions League again, one of his young strikers had a breakthrough season as 22-year-old Joao Felix scored eight goals and made four assists in his 24 appearances for Atletico Madrid. It may not seem a prolific return, but one goal involvement in every two games is a good contribution and is will give Joao Felix confidence to grow, following his 127m Euro switch from Benfica in 2019.
The huge price tag has weighed heavily on his shoulders and Joao has been hampered by injury, but he has started to show the fans that they have bought and 2022/23 promises to be an exciting campaign for the Portuguese striker.
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