The Greatest Goal Scoring XI Of All Time

Dan Fitch picks a team full of born goal scorers, from keepers who can hit the net from 30 yards, to forwards who score more goals than they play games.

We might cheer at committed tackle, gasp at a defence cutting pass and marvel at the trickery of a clever dribble, but it's goals that really get our attention.

As we have way too much time on our hands, we decided to pick a team where every player is a natural born goal-getter. Here is the greatest goal scoring XI of all time.

Goalkeeper - Rogerio Ceni

Not many goalkeepers get amongst the goals themselves, but one exception to the rule is San Paulo's Rogerio Ceni, who is the leading goal scoring goalkeeper of all time, having netted 93 goals at the time of writing.

Ceni takes penalties and has also scored more free kicks (51) than any other goalkeeper. He'd have plenty of competition when it came to taking set pieces for this side, but we believe that he could hold his own.

Right Back - Nelinho

For some reason the full backs who are prolific goal scorers tend to play on the left, but the former Brazil international Nelinho was a right back with an eye for goal.

Nelinho scored over 100 goals at his time with Cruzeiro, but will always be best remembered for his outrageous long range curling effort for Brazil against Italy at the 1978 World Cup.

Left Back - Paul Breitner

Although he would later play as a midfielder, Paul Breitner started his career as a free scoring left back, where the space he was afforded allowed him to punish teams with his long range shooting.

From the left Breitner was able to cut in on his right foot, although unusually for a full back, he would roam all over the pitch, as was evident with his famous goal for West Germany against Chile at the 1974 World Cup.

Central Defender - Ronald Koeman

No defender has ever scored more career goals than Ronald Koeman, who scored 193 league goals in 533 league matches in Holland and Spain.

Koeman was a brilliant free kick taker. His most famous efforts were Barcelona's winning goal in the 1992 European Cup final and the free kick for Holland that doomed Graham Taylor's England to miss out on qualification for the 1994 World Cup.

Central Defender - Daniel Passarella

Second on the list of goal scoring defenders in the Argentine centre back Daniel Passarella, who scored 134 goals in 451 league matches during his career and also notched 22 goals in 70 games for Argentina.

Despite being only 5ft 8" tall, Passarella often scored with headers and was also a danger from free kicks and penalties.

Defensive Midfield - Lothar Matthaus

To give this team a little balance, we wanted a midfielder who could cope with some defensive duties and still be counted on to hit double figures each season.

Step forward Lothar Matthaus. During his first spell at Bayern Munich he averaged a goal every two games from midfield and continued to hit the net in Serie A with Inter Milan before switching to the sweeper position later in his career.

Central Midfield - Frank Lampard

Frank Lampard has scored 20 goals or more from midfield over each of the last five seasons. This would be an outstanding achievement from a midfielder operating in a very advanced role, but is all the more impressive for the fact that Lampard is very much a box-to-box player and contributes defensively as well.

A testament to Lampard's goal scoring prowess is the fact that of the six seasons that he has played in the same Chelsea team as Didier Drogba, the England midfielder has outscored the talismanic striker in four of them.

Right Wing - Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi's goal scoring record for Barcelona has been astonishing for a player that starts every game on the right of attack. Last season he scored 34 goals from 35 La Liga games, which are the sort of statistics that you normally only find in the imaginary world of Football Manager.

At the time of writing, Messi has scored more goals than he has played games this seasons, with 17 from 14 league matches and 27 from 24 games in all competitions. In total Messi has 154 goals from 237 games for Barcelona and is well on target to eclipse Cesar Rodríguez's record of 235 goals in all competitions for the Catalan giants.

Left Wing - Cristiano Ronaldo

Over the past four or five seasons, Cristiano Ronaldo has done his best to match Lionel Messi's goal scoring achievements, never scoring less than 20 goals. In 2007/2008 Ronaldo scored 42 goals in 49 games for Manchester United and after having finally won his dream move to Real Madrid last season, the Portuguese star hit 33 in 35 appearances.

This season Ronaldo has averaged a goal a game, with 25 goals in 25 games at the time of writing. Unusually for such a skilful player, Ronaldo is a brilliant header of the ball, making him a major threat at set pieces, whether he's taking them or lurking in the box.

Striker - Pele

As well as being universally recognised as the greatest player of all time, Pele had a pretty decent goal scoring record. In total he scored 760 official goals and when you include non-competitive club matches, he notched 1280 goals in 1363 games.

People often deride the amount of goals supposedly scored by Pele, but if you look in depth at his statistics then they prove his prowess. In Brazilian league games Pele scored an astonishing 589 goals in 605 games and at international level, scored 77 in 92 appearances for Brazil.

Striker - Ferenc Puskas

One of the criticisms often thrown at Pele is the fact that he never played in a European league, but his strike partner in our team has a record that cannot be argued with. Ferenc Puskas scored 514 goals in 529 games in the Hungarian and Spanish leagues, while he hit a ridiculous 84 goals in 85 international matches for Hungary.

Puskas' most prolific season at club level came in the 1959/1960 season when he scored 52 goals in 39 goals for Real Madrid in all competitions. In 2009 FIFA introduced the FIFA Puskas Award which would be given to the player who scored the most beautiful goal of the past year, with Cristiano Ronaldo winning the inaugural vote.

Published: 30 Dec 2010