While it’s not entirely surprising to see Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi, Bayern Munich sharpshooter Robert Lewandowski and PSG’s powerhouse Edinson Cavani occupying the top three spots in this season’s Champions League goalscoring chart, it’s interesting to analyse the numbers behind their success.

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Champions League Goalscoring Chart

Created with Wyscout “Rankings” App

In first place is Messi on 11 goals from just 845 minutes of action, which means he’s averaging an impressive 1.17 goals per 90 minutes. Bagging his 11 goals from 37 shots is a fine illustration of his quality too.

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Lewandowski and Cavani are joint second place on eight goals, with the Polish international’s strikes coming from 794 minutes of action and the Uruguayan’s from just 756.

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Cavani has notably taken the least shots of the three having only launched 28, whereas Lewandowski has had 34 and Messi 37, as mentioned before. Cavani’s efficiency is aptly demonstrated by the fact he places first amongst the three for the highest percentage of shots on target with 50%.

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Interestingly, the trio have all registered one assist, but another intriguing aspect about their goals is how they’ve arrived. Messi has remarkably notched all 11 with his wand of a left foot, while Lewandowski and Cavani both have bagged two headers and six with their preferred right foot.

All in all, using Wyscout’s superbly detailed Rankings App, finding out such fascinating information about not only goals, but all aspects of the beautiful game, is made very easy and coherent in this feature.

With none of the three aforementioned players left in this year’s edition of the Champions League, it’ll make for great viewing to see if the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Antoine Griezmann can catch them.

Edward Stratmann

Freelance football writer and blogger he writes regularly about the on-field aspects of the game, with a particular focus on tactics and analysis. In addition to featuring on several football websites, including AS Roma’s and Everton’s Official Websites, find his work at Licence to Roam, a football blog he co-founded in 2013.