The Bernabéu crowd, bleached in its bright white replica shirts, has always demanded goals galore, with those who provide them by the bucketload forever going down as legends of Real Madrid.
Naturally, goals are the primary currency for grading and ranking the greatest Real Madrid strikers of all time, but other elements like where across what we’d call the modern frontline they played, as well as the era, also factor.
For the purposes of this top five best Real Madrid strikers list, the selection is drawn from the team’s most vaunted forwards, and so includes players who’d feature prominently as wingers, as opposed to wide midfielders, too.
Cristiano Ronaldo (2009-2018)
Real Madrid paid a world-record fee to bring in one of the two best players on the planet, and what they got was a superstar who’d only improve through the years to obliterate club, league, continental, and world scoring records.
Playing as a winger, Cristiano Ronaldo had already proven himself in the incredibly tough Premier League with Manchester United, scoring 145 goals and setting up 72 more in 346 games.
As he melded his play from a tricky winger to an athletic striker at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, the Portuguese forward set a new standard for scoring in Europe’s elite leagues.
Across 438 games for Los Blancos, he scored exactly 450 goals and set up a further 131, averaging 1.03 goals per game to sit 96 ahead of the next-highest club scorer – teammate Karim Benzema.
Ronaldo’s attacking exploits landed him four Ballon d’Or titles while in the Spanish capital, three European Golden Boots, and he won the club four UEFA Champions Leagues, two Spanish Cups, and two La Liga trophies.
Not just the greatest Real Madrid striker of all time, but quite possibly the greatest forward ever to play the sport.
Raúl (1994-2010)
Long before the Galácticos ethos came in – although, he also continued to dominate with the influx of high-priced talents – Raúl was slotting away shots left and right with a much less vaunted squad around him.
Madrid born and raised, Raúl eclipsed a bar that stood for around half a century to become the club’s record scorer with 323 goals and 45 assists in a gargantuan 741 games – which is still a Real Madrid record.
As noted, particularly in his earlier years, Real Madrid weren’t always the La Liga betting favourites. In fact, while he did win the title in 1994/95, Los Blancos would only win La Liga once more before the close of the decade.
On the ball, Raúl was always confident of outpacing his market and scoring, firing shots on goal from anywhere and everywhere to force the goalie into making a save.
After 16 years and his legacy secured as arguably the greatest Real Madrid striker of all time to that point, Raúl left with three Champions League winners’ medals, six La Liga trophy hoists, and five player of the year accolades.
Alfredo di Stéfano (1953-1964)
One of the club’s first superstars who set the standard for decades to come, Alfredo di Stéfano first made a name for himself in his native Argentina. Then, in 1954, both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid came knocking.
They had to buy his rights from Barcelona in the end, but in doing so, they secured a forward who would go down as one of the greatest Real Madrid strikers of all time and help the club to dominate in Europe.
Di Stéfano was instrumental in Real Madrid winning each of the first five European Cups, scoring in every single one of those five finals – often first for Los Blancos – and he even put away a hat-trick in the 1960 Final for good measure.
The Argentine’s rampant scoring would ensure Real Madrid won those first five major European trophies as well as eight league titles – four of which came in consecutive seasons – and land him two Ballon d’Or triumphs.
Scoring at an absurd rate of 0.78 goals per game to collect 306 goals and 45 assists in 392 games for the club, the football odds of the day would invariably favour Di Stéfano getting on the score sheet.
Hugo Sánchez (1985-1992)
A wildly impressive scorer in Mexican football with UNAM, Hugo Sánchez’s big move to Europe would land him in the Spanish capital, but not the Los Blancos half.
After a loan period of 20 games and eight goals, Sánchez signed for Atlético Madrid. He’d bring his tally up to a perfect goal every two games rate with 75 goals in 150 games over the ensuing campaigns.
Real were exceedingly keen to get the Mexican, but to facilitate the sale and avoid riots in the streets of Madrid, Sánchez technically returned to UNAM before he was signed by the Bernabéu residents.
From there, he only got more and more potent in front of goal. Surrounded by the five academy-grown stars of La Quinta del Buitre, Sánchez would net 208 goals in just 282 games and provide 47 assists.
This inordinate rate of scoring helped the club to win the league five times, set him as the league’s top scorer five times, and secured his spot among the greatest Real Madrid strikers of all time.
Ferenc Puskás (1958-1966)
One of the most prolific goal scorers the game has ever seen, Ferenc Puskás’ 85 goals in 84 games for Hungary and 619 goals in 618 matches in domestic competitions earned his naming to the “most beautiful goal” FIFA Award despite never winning the Ballon d’Or.
Puskás had already enjoyed over a decade of professional football in his native Hungary before he made the switch to the Spanish capital, but that didn’t stop him from etching his name in Real Madrid’s history books.
Across 262 games for Los Blancos, the short-and-stout striker powered his way to 242 goals and 28 assists, scoring at a rate of 0.92 goals per game. His 1959/60 outing of 47 goals was the club record until Ronaldo came along in 2013.
Had he not been banned by UEFA when he initially sought to leave Hungarian football and forced to wait until he was 31-years-old to kick a ball for Real Madrid, he may now be ranked as the greatest Real Madrid striker of all time.
