Kylian Mbappe is enjoying a terrific debut season with Real Madrid, but how does his goal tally compare with the greats of the past? We’ve crunched the numbers.
Real Madrid have had numerous world-class forwards over the years, although only a select few of them have managed to hit the ground running in their debut season.
We’ve gone back throughout Real Madrid’s history and have found the six players with the most goals in their debut season for the club.
Note: If players are tied on the same number of goals, we have ordered them by their goal-to-game ratio.
6. Hugo Sanchez – 29 goals
After joining Real Madrid in 1985 from local rivals Atletico Madrid, it didn’t take long for the Mexican striker to get used to his new surroundings.
Sanchez scored 29 goals in 49 appearances during his debut season and he became even more prolific than that during his next few years at the club.
In total, the striker scored 208 goals in seven seasons and he ranks as the club’s seventh top goalscorer of all time.
5. Ronaldo Nazario – 30 goals
Real Madrid snapped up R9 in the summer of 2002 following some injury-hit years with Inter.
After only making 24 appearances at club level in the three years prior to joining Real Madrid, fans at the time had reason to be sceptical over the Brazilian’s ability to stay fit.
However, Ronaldo quickly put those doubters to bed as he scored 30 goals in 44 appearances during his debut season at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Relatively speaking, R9 managed to stay pretty injury-free during his first three years at the club as he made 137 appearances during his first three seasons alone.
4. Ruud van Nistelrooy – 33 goals
After scoring 24 goals in his final season for Manchester United, Van Nistelrooy improved on that tally during his debut season with Real Madrid.
Indeed, his debut season in 2006-07 was one to remember. He beat the likes of Diego Milito, Ronaldinho and Diego Forlan to the Pichichi Trophy, scoring 25 league goals in 37 appearances.
The Dutchman also managed to score in seven consecutive La Liga matches and tied level with Hugo Sanchez who held the record at the time. That record has since been obliterated by Lionel Messi, but it’s still impressive nonetheless.
3. Kylian Mbappe – 33 goals
After enduring a somewhat cagey start to his Real Madrid career, the Frenchman has completely turned around his fortunes in recent months.
Currently averaging a goal every 113 minutes, the Frenchman could break all sorts of records if he manages to maintain his form between now and the end of the season.
“He’s doing very well, much more active, present in the game,” Carlo Ancelotti told reporters following Mbappe’s latest brace against Leganes.
“He’s making a difference; that’s what we want from him.”
With 33 goals across all competitions and counting, it’s no wonder that he’s currently one of the top contenders for the 2025 Ballon d’Or.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo – 33 goals
Ronaldo’s tally of 33 goals is especially impressive because he only played 35 games during his debut season for Madrid.
The Portuguese winger suffered an ankle injury in October 2009 and missed around seven weeks of the season as a result.
However, that didn’t slow him down as he still managed to average a goal every 88.3 minutes during the 2009-10 campaign.
Unfortunately for Ronaldo, he ended his debut season without a trophy, but that certainly wasn’t because of a lack of quality from him.
1. Ivan Zamorano – 37 goals
Since 1992-93, Zamorano has held the record for the most goals scored in a debut season for Real Madrid.
The Chilean forward was an unstoppable force during his heyday, and he enjoyed the most prolific spell of his career while playing for Real Madrid.
However, with Mbappe currently just four goals behind his tally of 37 goals, Zamorano’s record looks like it could be in danger.
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