(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
With the modern game having dispensed with the notion that the out-and-out goal-scorer is essential to any successful side, it seems only fair to don our rose-tinted bins and hark back to an age when bulging the onion bag was as exalted as a John Carpenter film circa 1982.
Over the years there have been countless players who have made a career based solely on their ability to spring to life in the 18 yard-box: Gary Lineker, Ally McCoist, Ian Rush and Gerd Muller to name but a few. But there are plenty more who are less well-known despite possessing even more impressive records…
Rafael Moreno Aranzadi
Rafael Aranzadi was a one-club man, only ever playing for Basque side Athletic Bilbao. Diminutive in stature (he stood at just over five feet tall), the man they called ‘Pichichi’ was instantly recognisable with his ever-present white headgear as well as his lethal touch in front of goal.
Following his death at the age of just 29, the Spanish paper Marca began awarding the top scorer in the Spanish top flight the Trofeo Pichichi in his honour and a statue of the man was erected outside Bilbao’s San Mames stadium.
Pichichi scored 200 times in 170 games.
Gunnar Nordahl
Despite being the record goal-scorer for one of the most famous clubs in world football, Swedish marksman Nordahl is little-known in the game.
Beginning his career in his native Sweden, Nordahl had already clocked up an impressive 217 goals in 213 games in the Allsvenskanbefore his move to AC Milan in 1949.
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