Article
01 October 2008
Carlos Cristóbal / Translation by Michael J. O'Donnell
Real Madrid have already scored 16 goals in five league games this year. This spectacular figure is even larger at this point in the campaign than that achieved by the 1989/90 side (12), which is still the top-scoring team in the competition's history with 107 strikes.
People doubted Real Madrid's goal-scoring skills at the start of the 2008/09 campaign, but they've been proven wrong; the players have already scored 24 strikes in eight official games this season.
Real Madrid are the top-scoring side in the league with 16 strikes, followed by Barcelona and Valencia with 12 each. This is an incredible figure for the team, considering it has scored four more goals in five games than the 1989/90 side, which is still the top-scoring team in the league's history with 107 goals. This excellent precedent makes some Madridistas believe that this year's Real Madrid has a chance to break that record.
There are many differences between both sides. John B. Toshack's 1989/90 team stood undefeated in its first five games, having defeated Sporting (0-2), Valencia (6-2) and Cadiz (4-1), and drawn against Castellon and Mallorca. Things have been worse for the Whites this year, with an early 2-1 defeat against Deportivo on Matchday 1, but they've gone on to win their following four league clashes, as well as their two Champions League fixtures. The Whites have scored in every game they've had so far this year.
Hugo Sánchez scored 38 of Real Madrid's 107 strikes in the 1989/90 campaign and won the Pichichi Trophy. Hugo scored five goals in the first five games and maintained a one goal-per-game average throughout the season. Besides the Mexican, only four other men (Michel, Schuster, Emilio Butragueño and Aldana) scored in the opening five games.
On the other hand, many players on this year's team have proven their goal-scoring skills, and not all of them are strikes. Rafael Van Der Vaart is currently the team's top-scorer this year with four goals, followed by Van Nistelrooy (3), Raúl, Gonzalo Higuaín (2 each), De la Red, Guti, Heinze and Robben (1 each). This proves the entire squad is capable of scoring goals.