Susceptibility to injury proves crucial to football strike rate

It seems almost every time Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo take to the pitch, goalscoring records tumble. But to focus only on the brightest lights obscures other super strikers.

In fact Fiorentina forward Mario Gomez has a higher non-penalty scoring rate than the Real Madrid star across his career as a whole.

But while Messi and Ronaldo each have more than 400 career non-penalty goals across all club competitions, Gomez has fewer than 300.

The reason? Doubtless there are many, but one big factor appears to be susceptibility to injury.

Since their senior careers took off, Messi and Ronaldo have consistently missed very little football.

Whereas Gomez and others such as Cristiano's namesake, the Brazilian Ronaldo, have seen stratospheric scoring rates offset by reduced pitch time due to injury.

The two top strikers closest to matching Messi and Ronaldo for pitch time are Raul and Luis Suarez. Raul was never as prolific as today's duo, but perhaps Suarez will fire his way into the all-time greats.

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