Top 10 goal scorers in Europe's 'Big Five' leagues without penalties

The top goal scorers list for each individual league or for Europe as whole changes somewhat when you take away penalties. Here are the leaders for goals in Europe's 'Big Five' leagues without penalties.

The best goal scorers in Europe will get their goals from anywhere, and that includes form penalties. Most of the time, a team's primary penalty taker is their best scorer.

Which means on the list of top goal scorers in Europe, the stats are padded a bit by these gifted opportunities. While they are not the easiest to score, they are essentially a free shot at goal with a high chance of scoring.

So if you take away penalty goals from the top goal scorers list, it suddenly changes.

Here is how the list looks for the top goal scorers from Europe's 'Big Five' leagues without penalties.

Note: Stats are correct prior as of 11th May, 2022.

 

Robert Lewandowski 

Goals: 34 

Non-penalty goals: 29 

 

Of course, Robert Lewandowski is still number one on this list. He has been a goal machine this year, as he has been for pretty much his whole Bayern Munich career.

He has scored 34 goals all together but five of them have come from the penalty spot. Taking away his penalties from his goals scored this season wouldn't change much for overall leaderboard, though, as he would still be the top scorer in Europe by two goals.

As Bayern's primary penalty taker, Lewandowski has taken all five of their penalties this season and obviously converted each of them.

 

Patrick Schick 

Goals: 24 

Non-penalty goals: 23 

 

Coming in some ways down on Lewandowski's non-penalty goals total is Bayer Leverkusen's Patrick Schick. 

Schick is the perfect example for this list. He has only scored one penalty this season, and because of that his standings jumps from fifth for most goals to second with most goals without penalties.

Leverkusen don't really have a primary penalty taker. They've had six penalties this season, four different players have taken them and only two have been converted.

Schick has taken two penalties this season and converted one.

What's more, he's at the top of the list for non-penalty goals per 90 minutes with an even 1.00.

 

Kylian Mbappe 

Goals: 24 

Non-penalty goals: 21 

 

Kylian Mbappe is PSG's leading man, despite sharing the front line with Neymar, Lionel Messi, Mauro Icardi and Angel Di Maria.

He has managed to score a French Ligue 1 high 24 goals and has 16 assists to go along with the goals scored.

Mbappe is easily one of the greatest talents in the world right now, and those stats show it. He is one of the most efficient scorers in football, and he shows that through penalties, too.

He splits the primary penalty taker duties with Neymar, with both having taken four so far this season. But Mbappe has one over on Neymar quite literally, as he has converted all four of his while Neymar has missed one.

Regardless, Mbappe still finds himself as one of Europe's top scorers without penalties.

 

Ciro Immobile 

Goals: 27 

Non-penalty goals: 20 

 

Just like Lewandowski at Bayern, Ciro Immobile has been a goal machine for Lazio since he joined them in 2016.

This season has been one of his most prolific of his career, although if you take away penalties, it's slightly less impressive.

Immobile has always been a strong penalty taker. He is Italian after all. he has scored seven from nine attempts this season.

That is the joint most on this list, but it's not the most he's taken or scored in a season.

In the 2019/20 season, he scored 36 goals in just the Serie A alone. 14 of them were from penalties, and he took 15 in total that year.

 

Son Heung-min 

Goals: 20 

Non-penalty goals: 20 

 

Son Heung-min is the only player to feature on this list who has not scored a single penalty this year.

Son is not Tottenham's primary penalty taker, that duty goes to Harry Kane. In fact, he has only taken two penalties in his whole Premier League career with Tottenham.

Whether or not it's because he isn't a strong penalty taker is unknown, but what is known is he is a brilliant open play scorer, as evident by the fact that he makes this list and features on the overall top goal scorers list, too.

 

Karim Benzema 

Goals: 26 

Non-penalty goals: 19  

 

We all are aware of Karim Benzema at this point and realise just how good a goal scorer he is. It's a bit of a shame it took Cristiano Ronaldo leaving for the majority to realise it, but better late than never.

At 34 years old, Benzema is the oldest player on this list (Anthony Modeste is also 34 but Karim has him beat by some 150 days).

But you wouldn't suspect he is in the twilight of his career, as he is still scoring at a high rate.

Take away his penalty goals and he is still winning the Spanish La Liga golden boot race.

 

Martin Terrier 

Goals: 21 

Non-penalty goals: 19 

 

Martin Terrier has been a big propelling reason why Rennes find themselves in fourth as he is the team's top scorer.

He is having his most prolific goal scoring season to date by a long shot. His previous most in a season was nine, so it's safe to say he has found his shooting boots this year.

Unfortunately for Rennes, fourth would not be enough for a Champions League spot next season. They would need to win their final game and have Marseille, who are in third, lose theirs.

 

Christopher Nkunku 

Goals: 20 

Non-penalty goals: 19 

 

Christopher Nkunku is a fantastic talent. If you want a more extensive lowdown on how good his season has been, as well as others from this list, check out this article we published a few weeks ago.

Essentially, Nkunku has had the breakthrough year that was very much expected of him. After spending four seasons with PSG as a young hopeful, he moved to RB Leipzig three seasons ago and has flourished into the player he is now.

And the player he is now is one that rivals some of the very best in Europe for goals as well as chip in with the second most assists in the Bundesliga with 13.

 

Dusan Vlahovic 

Goals: 23 

Non-penalty goals: 18 

 

Dusan Vlahovic had a lot of interest in January for all the right reasons. He showed last season that he is one to watch, and he carried that on this season.

At the halfway point in the Italian Serie A while still with Fiorentina, he was the league's top scorer.

He then got the big move to Juventus and he didn't need time to adjust, he just kept scoring.

At Fiorentina, he was their primary penalty taker. He took six penalties and converted five of them. He's not got the role at Juve, but he is still getting goals.

 

Anthony Modeste 

Goals: 19 

Non-penalty goals: 18 

 

As mentioned earlier, Anthony Modeste is the second oldest player on this list. But, like Benzema, that doesn't stop him from being one of the best scorers.

Modeste has reverted back to a younger version of himself, as he hadn't scored more than even 10 goals in a season in seven seasons. 

Suddenly this year, he remembered how to score and has gone on to score 20 goals for just the third time in his career, and has done so with the help of just one penalty.