Top 10 goalscorers without penalties in the 21st century: Lionel Messi above Cristiano Ronaldo | OneFootball

Former Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid stars are among the highest non-penalty scoring players of the 21st Century.

Of course, scoring penalties is a skill in itself and if you want to check out the highest scoring penalty takers of all time, we have you covered.

Since the year 2000, here are the 10 highest-scoring players of the 21st Century, not including penalties.

1. Lionel Messi – 784 goals

Who else?

The diminutive Argentine forward has scored more non-penalty goals than anyone else on the planet with 784 in 1137 games for club and country.

Along with topping this list, he also boasts the best goal-to-game ratio and has produced more assists than anyone else below him.

Averaging 0.69 non-penalty goals per game, Messi is one of the most inevitable players of all time – as he proved all the way back in 2008 at the Olympic Games.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo – 778 goals

Ronaldo tops the all-time scoring charts, but when you take away his 181 penalties, he drops down to second on this list.

However, being just six goals behind Messi and with the Inter Miami star not in competitive action until late February, Ronaldo has the chance to catch him up.

Along with Messi, CR7 has been one of the two best players of his generation and their numbers are way ahead of the rest of the competition.

3. Robert Lewandowski – 620 goals

Lewandowski is the only other player to have scored more than 600 non-penalty goals during the 21st Century.

He’s somewhat slowed down for Barcelona this season, but has still managed to score 10 goals across his last 20 appearances.

With his contract at Barcelona up this summer, it remains to be seen where he’ll end up next season.

4. Luis Suarez – 540 goals

Suarez has decided to continue playing for at least one more season, having recently penned a new one-year extension with Inter Miami.

For some, the 38-year-old is the best number nine of his generation and with over 500 non-penalty goals, he’s certainly in the conversation. That’s before considering his ridiculous pieces of skill.

5. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – 488 goals

In total, Ibrahimovic scored 573 goals during his career, with 488 of them being non-penalty goals.

The Swedish striker scored goals wherever he went and was able to adapt to any team or league seamlessly. Even if he was too chicken to sign for QPR.

However, knowing what Zlatan is like, he’ll probably be annoyed that he just fell short of the 500-non-penalty-goal landmark.

6. Karim Benzema – 471 goals

Still playing today for Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League, Benzema could overtake Ibrahimovic by the time he retires.

During the 2025-26 season so far, he’s scored 15 goals at club level, with only one of those strikes coming from the penalty spot.

He will surely reach the 500 landmark before he retires.

7. Edin Dzeko – 425 goals

Arguably the most underrated striker of his generation, Dzeko has outscored a plethora of iconic number nines during this era.

The Bosnia and Herzegovina international has consistently scored for every club that he’s played for and is still playing in 2026 for Fiorentina at the age of 39.

8. Edinson Cavani – 405 goals

Still scoring goals for Boca Juniors today at the age of 38, Cavani takes the eighth spot on this list with 405 non-penalty goals.

He slowed down considerably last year, only scoring five goals in 24 appearances, but is still chipping away at his tally and adding goals.

9. Harry Kane – 395 goals

Kane is only 10 goals away from reaching 500 career goals and only five goals away from 400 non-penalty goals.

With the rate he’s been scoring at Bayern Munich, he’ll no doubt hit those landmarks in no time.

Since leaving the Premier League, Kane has scored a whopping 116 goals in 123 games and doesn’t look like slowing down soon.

10. Sergio Aguero – 378 goals

Throughout his career, Aguero bagged himself 378 non-penalty goals, which is more than the likes of Wayne Rooney, Thierry Henry or Mohamed Salah have managed.

Feats such as scoring five goals in 20 minutes against Newcastle in 2015 helped boost his tally.

He’ll likely be overtaken on this list by the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland soon enough, but for the time being, he’s still got a spot in the top 10.