Bayern 5 times in top 15
The Reds have a new record man when it comes to goal streaks. In 2014, Daniel Sturridge broke the record set by Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard; now Mohamed Salah has bested that record. Among all teams in Europe’s top leagues, there have been only seven players since 2000 with longer goal streaks—including several Bayern Munich players.
Liverpool head coach Jürgen Klopp called his forward “the best player in the world.” Salah has paid back that praise in the Champions League. The 29-year-old scored his 11th and 12 goal of the season against Atlético (3-2) and has now scored in nine competitive games in a row—the most in LFC history. Michael Owen managed five games in a row in 2003 and Gerrard seven in 2007 before Sturridge broke that record by scoring eight goals in a row. As of this week, Salah belongs to a European elite group of 14 players, who have managed to score in at least 14 competitive games in a row. Some players in that group, including Robert Lewandowski, have managed a nine-game goal streak more than once.
Salah scores 9 games in a row: The longest goalscoring streaks since 2000
While a new record has been set at Liverpool, a look around other clubs in the statistics shows some well-known—and none surprising—record holders. Lewandowski set a new record this year by breaking a previous record he also held. This season his record streak was finally stopped by promoted Bundesliga side Greuther Fürth. The Polish striker has scored 19 games in row between mid-February and mid-September 2021. Lewandowski scored 30 goals in those 19 games. Lewandowski also holds the second place—the striker scored 13 times in a row in 2018. In Roy Makaay (11 games in a row in 2005) and Carsten Jancker (ten games in 2000), two other Bayern forwards are also listed among the players with the longest goalscoring streaks since 2000.
Ronaldo & van Nistelrooy among the top strikers – Salah could break into top 8
Third is Cristiano Ronaldo, who playing for Real Madrid, managed to score 12 games in a row in 2014 and 2018, in which he scored 20 and 22 goals, respectively. At Ronaldo’s current club Manchester United, Ruud van Nistelrooy is at the very top with ten games scored in a row in 2001 and 2003. Lionel Messi (now PSG) managed ten games in a row for Barcelona in 2012/13, the same amount that Duván Zapata managed for Atalanta. The second-best player coming from Germany is Stefan Kießling, who scored eight games in a row in 2013. The most from the Bundesliga outside Bayern Munich. Kießling shares that ranking with another former Bundesliga player in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who managed eight games in a row for Borussia Dortmund in 2017.
Salah’s record of nine games was also achieved by Emmanuel Adebayor (for Arsenal in 2007/08), Adriano (for Inter Milan in 2004), and Diego Forlán (for Atlético in 2009). Salah could move ahead of that group with one goal in the Premier League against Manchester United on Sunday. In that case, the Premier League champion, Champions League winner, and two times golden boot winner would move among the group of players that managed a double-digit goalscoring streak. “He is top,” Klopp said about his forward last week. “We all see it. Who is better than him? We don’t have to talk about what Messi and Ronaldo have done for world football and their dominance. But right now, he is the best.”
