Vinicius Junior recently scored his 60th La Liga goal for Real Madrid, but how long did it take him to reach that tally compared to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo? We’ve crunched the stats.
Of course, when comparing these three players in La Liga, it’s important to consider the context around each of them.
Vinicius joined Real Madrid in 2018 when he was just 18 years old, having impressed for Flamengo during his first few years as a professional.
It then took him a couple of seasons before he properly established himself as part of the starting XI. His first ‘world-class’ season probably came in 2021–22 and since then, he’s not looked back.
Likewise, Messi also spent his teenage years playing in La Liga, meaning that it took him over 100 games until he reached the 60 goal landmark as he was still honing his craft.
The Argentine playmaker scored just seven league goals during his first two seasons as a professional, but soon after that point, his numbers went stratospheric.
In the case of Ronaldo, he arrived at Real Madrid in 2009 and was already in the prime years of his career.
Therefore, it won’t come as much of a shock to learn that CR7 managed to score 60 La Liga goals in considerably less time than it took both Messi and Vinicius.
In fact, it took Ronaldo less than two seasons before he scored 60 league goals for Madrid. After dispatching 26 goals in his debut season, he then hit 40 the following year.
Vinicius hasn’t quite managed to hit those sorts of goalscoring heights yet, but he does seem to be improving season upon season.
“He has a great future ahead of him because he has reached these numbers very early, fighting and improving every season,” Carlo Ancelotti said after Vinicius scored his 60th career La Liga goal against Rayo Vallecano.
Across all competitions, the Brazilian has scored 103 goals for Real Madrid, with the vast majority of those strikes coming in the last four seasons.
During 2024-25, he’s managed to score 19 goals across all competitions and if he maintains his current strike rate, he’ll surpass his best-ever scoring season of 24 goals from last season.
However, in terms of La Liga, Vinicius was at his most prolific during 2021-22 when he scored 17 league goals. So far this season, he’s scored 10 league goals and is averaging a strike every 172.1 minutes.
Here’s the full breakdown of how long it took Vinicius to score 60 La Liga goals with both Messi and Ronaldo.
How long it took Vinicius to score 60 La Liga goals
Games: 197
Goals: 60
Assists: 33
Goal contributions: 93
Penalties: 3
Minutes per goal: 221.9
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 233.6
Minutes per goal or assist: 143.2
How long it took Messi to score 60 La Liga goals
Games: 116
Goals: 60
Assists: 31
Goal contributions: 91
Penalties: 7
Minutes per goal: 134.4
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 152.1
Minutes per goal or assist: 88.6
How long it took Ronaldo to score 60 La Liga goals
Games: 61
Goals: 62
Assists: 15
Goal contributions: 77
Penalties: 12
Minutes per goal: 83.8
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 103.9
Minutes per goal or assist: 67.4
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