Which player has scored the most match-winning goals in Europe’s top leagues this season?

MVPs in attack 

Goals are the only currency that truly matters in football. Solid defences and exquisite playmaking may entertain supporters, but the only thing that genuinely adds points to the league table each Saturday are goals. Therefore, the most sought-after and most valuable players worldwide are forwards and strikers who make scoring goals look effortless. While we all know which players score the most goals in any league or cup competition, the real question is: which sharpshooters have scored the most match-winning goals? Using Transfermarkt’s database, which defines a “match-winning goal” as the goal that went on to break the deadlock between two teams, we’ve compiled a list of perhaps the most important players in all of European football this season.

Which players have the most match-winning goals this season?

At the bottom of today’s rankings, we have no less than five players currently sitting on five match-winning goals for their clubs this season. Bayern Munich star Harry Kane, Chelsea forward Joâo Pedro, Fulham’s in-demand Harry Wilson, AC Milan winger Christian Pulisic and, rather curiously, Manchester United’s on-loan striker Rasmus Højlund at Napoli have all bagged an impressive five goals that have gone on to decide the result in their respective team’s favour in the league this season. Sitting just above the chasing pack are two players on six match-winning goals – Lens striker Wesley Saïd and Borussia Dortmund target man Serhou Guirassy. Next on the list is undoubtedly one of the surprise packages of the season in Brentford centre forward Igor Thiago. After overcoming a nasty injury that ruled him out for much of his debut season in the Premier League, the Brazilian striker has made up for lost time by rising to second place in the English top-flight’s goalscoring charts with 18 goals for the Bees, with no less than seven of them directly defining the outcome of a game for Keith Andrews’s side this season.

Such has been the impressive form of the Brentford talent that the only players above him on this list are bona fide world stars. It seems as though nothing can truly separate Manchester City star Erling Haaland and Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappé when it comes to deciding which of the two goal scorers can lay claim to the title of the best player in the world and these metrics are no exception to that rule. Both players currently sit on eight match-winning goals in the Premier League and LaLiga, respectively, this season. And with Haaland running low on form and Mbappé reportedly nursing a nasty injury, it remains to be seen whether either of them will be able to add to their tallies before the end of the season.

However, that will be music to the ears of Inter Milan fans, as they celebrate the placement of their own cherished goalscorer Lautaro Martínez at the top of the list of players with the most match-winning goals this season. Out-performing the likes of Haaland and Mbappé is a worthy achievement in its own right, but what also makes the Argentinian striker’s top spot so impressive is that he’s actually only scored 14 goals in Serie A this season. Which means that no less than 64% of his goals have been vital contributions to Inter’s quest to win the league title. So while Martínez may feel as though he could have scored more goals this season, few could doubt that he’s still proved to be as pivotal as ever to his team’s success in Italy.