Barcelona’s Top 10 Leading Goalscorers of All Time

Barcelona have traditionally always been known as a side possessing the most remarkable attacking talent.

In recent times, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi are just a few of the world class talents to have pulled on the famous Barça shirt.

Obviously, one player has broken pretty much every record in the club’s history – we’ll get to him in a bit – but let’s take a look at many of the other distinguished goalscorers in Catalonia.

Mariano made his debut for Barcelona in 1939 aged just 20 and went on to amass 128 goals in 150 appearances during a prolific nine-year spell with the club. His impressive tally just sneaks him into the top ten, ahead of club legends Patrick Kluivert and Hristo Stoichkov. 

The Spaniard would be further up the list but for a debilitating knee injury suffered in 1944 that he was unable to fully recover from. After scoring 114 goals in five seasons before injury struck, Mariano managed to net just 14 times in the following four seasons in what was a sad end to his Barcelona career.

Rivaldo was welcomed to Camp Nou in 1997, with the Brazilian dazzling fans during a five-year spell in Catalonia. He possessed great pace and dribbling ability, combined with a freakishly devastating command of set pieces, allowing him to rack up 130 goals for the club.

After endearing himself to the fans by scoring wonder goal after wonder goal, Rivaldo left the club in 2002 under controversial circumstances when Louis Van Gaal returned to Barcelona, swiftly releasing the Brazilian from his contract.

Eto’o’s impressive form for Mallorca earned him a €24m move to Camp Nou in 2004. During his spell with Barcelona, Eto’o established himself as one of the deadliest strikers on the planet as he bagged an incredible 130 goals in just 199 appearances.

The Cameroonian enjoyed a well decorated spell with Barça which included three La Liga titles and two Champions League triumphs, before he made the move to Serie A, joining Inter in 2009 for the lofty sum of €46m.

Alcantara shot to fame by bagging a hat-trick on his debut during a 9-0 win against Catala SC back in 1914. He remains Barcelona’s youngest ever player to score in an official match at the tender age of 15 years, 4 months.

After a two-year spell away from the club, Alcantara returned to Barcelona in 1918 when he cemented his legacy. He bagged 143 official goals during a decorated nine-year spell in Catalonia, with the striker capturing 17 major honours before hanging up his boots in 1927 to become a doctor. 

In sixth place is Spanish striker Escola, who began his illustrious career with Barcelona in 1934. Known as ‘The Professor’ for controlling his team-mates’ emotions on the field, Escola racked up 167 goals during two spells with the club before also having his career cut short by injuries.

Escola was plagued by hip and knee problems which forced him to retire at the age of 34, but not before he captured two La Liga titles.

Samitier was nicknamed ‘The Grasshopper’ due to his position that created the ‘box-to-box’ role. Naturally a midfielder, the Spaniard netted 184 official goals for the club, placing him fourth in Barcelona’s list of all-time leading scorers.

Samitier controversially left the club in 1932 to join Real Madrid, but will always be remembered as a legend of the club having returned to manage Barcelona, capturing the La Liga title in 1945.

After joining Barcelona in 1950, Kubala wasted no time displaying his vast talents at Camp Nou. He enjoyed a stellar first season, scoring 26 goals in 19 games including seven in one match against Sporting Gijon – a La Liga record that remains the most goals scored in a game.

His goalscoring antics showed no sign of slowing down during the ten years he spent at Barcelona as Kubala racked up an incredible 194 goals before briefly retiring to become a youth coach at the club. 

Suarez left Barça in disappointingly acrimonious fashion in 2020, being allowed to join league rivals Atletico Madrid. He proved his worth in his first season in Spain’s capital as Atleti won La Liga, but he’ll go down in history first and foremost as a Barça legend.

After a difficult first season, Suarez enjoyed a marvellous second term as he netted 59 times across all competitions during his best ever campaign. He never looked back and tucked into goal after goal during a successful period spell at Camp Nou.

In second place after holding the crown for some time is Rodriguez. The Spaniard scored 232 goals in 351 matches, making him the club’s leading scorer for an impressive five decades.

After making his debut at 19, Cesar, like so many before him, enjoyed an illustrious career at Barcelona as he scored goals for fun, contributing to five La Liga titles during a 16-year spell at the club.

No surprises who leads the way, it’s Lionel Messi. Arguably the greatest player to ever walk the planet, Messi is a phenomenon whose talents may never be replicated.

His record speaks for itself. Messi has scored 672 goals during 778 appearances for the club. After coming through the famous La Masia academy, the Argentinian has broken nearly every record in the book; most goals (577), most hat-tricks (48), most goals in a calendar year (84), the list goes on.

Having won the Ballon d’Or a record six times, Messi will always be remembered as one of the greats.

*Lionel Messi scoring total as of date published.