Who Had The Greatest Season In Football History

The Ballon d'Or is based on performances in the calendar year, but football works on a different cycle. So, who had the greatest individual season in the history of the game? Let the countdown begin. 10. Thierry Henry 2002-03 Scoring 24 goals in a Premier League season is no mean feat. Doing that while also providing 20 assists? Well, that's just incredible. Arsenal didn't win the title in 2002-03, but Henry did to keep Arsenal in contention. No other player in Premier League history has reached 20 goals and 20 assists in the same campaign. That's what made Henry so good. His rival for the golden boot at the time was Ruud van Nistelrooy, a superb poacher who came alive in the penalty area. But Henry didn't just convert chances, he created them too. The Frenchman was on fire throughout the campaign. He scored a stunning solo goal against Tottenham at Highbury and provided three assists for Freddy Ljungberg on the final weekend, despite the fact he was battling van Nistelrooy for the golden boot. That summed up Henry's selflessness, and he was rewarded for his incredible efforts with the PFA Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year awards. 9. Dixie Dean 1927-28 Football was a vastly different game 30 years ago, let alone 100. It was definitely easy to score goals in the 1920s than the 2020s. But that doesn't mean we should dismiss Dixie Dean's remarkable exploits. The Everton icon was one of the most prolific centre-forwards English footballers ever produced. His peak came in 1927-28, when Dean scored 60 goals in 39 First Division games. He scored five hat-tricks and 14 braces all in one league season. Unsurprisingly, Everton won the title that year, and Dean established himself as a regular starter for England. His record of 60 goals in an English league season still stands today, and will probably never be beaten. 8. Luis Suarez 2013-14 Luis Suarez tried to leave Liverpool for Arsenal in 2013, but the Reds dug deep to keep him. Their refusal to budge was justified in spectacular fashion the following season. Suarez actually missed the start of the campaign because he was still serving a Liverpool fans were concerned he might lack match sharpness when he returned. They needn't have worried. Suarez grabbed a brace against Sunderland in his first game back. On New Year's Day, he scored his 20th goal of the Premier League season. Suarez was unplayable in 2013-14. Brendan Rodgers' attacking tactics helped him. Defenders couldn't just focus on Suarez because they also had Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge, and Philippe Coutinho to contend with. Liverpool narrowly missed out on the title, but Suarez couldn't have done much more. He ended the season with 31 goals in 33 league games, earning a big-money move to Barcelona. 7. Alfredo Di Stefano 1956-57 Before Cristiano Ronaldo came along, Alfredo Di Stefano was the greatest player in Real Madrid's history. The Argentine made Madrid what they are today. Before he arrived, they'd only won two league titles. By the time he left, Madrid had been crowned champions of Spain 10 times and won five European Cups. Di Stefano was a model of consistency throughout his time in the famous white shirt, but his best season was probably 1956-57. Di Stefano scored 43 goals in 43 games, as Madrid won La Liga and the European Cup. That'd be impressive enough before you consider the fact that Di Stefano was much more than a goalscorer. There were no reliable assist stats in those days, but it's clear the Argentine laid on numerous goals for teammates. Di Stefano was a complete footballer, and he demonstrated the full breadth of his talent in 1956-57. 6. Pelé 1961-62 Pelé remains the only player in the history of the game to win three World Cups. Less is known about the Brazilian's club career, but it was just as impressive. In 1962, he inspired Santos to glory on three fronts – the Campeonato Brasileiro, the Copa Libertadores, and the Intercontinental Cup. South American seasons don't always align with European ones, but across 1961 and 1962, Pelé scored 110 goals in 75 matches. His best performances came in the Intercontinental Cup. Pelé scored five goals in a two-legged tie against the great Benfica side of Eusebio and Mario Coluna. Santos won 3-2 at home and 5-2 away, and Benfica's goalkeeper, Costa Pereira, explained what it was like to face Pelé. I arrived hoping to stop a great man, but I went away convinced I'd been undone by someone who wasn't born on the same planet as the rest of us. 5. Ronaldo – 1996-97 To say Ronaldo burst onto the scene would be an understatement. O Fenomeno really was a phenomenon in his early years. Many people argue he's the best teenage footballer of all time. Ronaldo turned 20 in September 1996, just a few months after he joined Barcelona from PSV. He only spent one season at the Camp Nou, but boy, what a season it was. The Brazilian scored 47 goals in 49 games in all competitions. Six of those came in the Copa del Rey and five in the Cup Winners' Cup, as Barca won both tournaments. It wasn't just the quantity of the goals, but the quality too. Ronaldo left his own manager with his head in his hands after a stunning solo strike against Compostela. Bobby Robson couldn't believe what he'd seen. There were also long-range strikes and unerring finishes. In 1996-97, the unstoppable Ronaldo could do absolutely everything. 4. Diego Maradona – 1986-87 Diego Maradona must have felt on top of the world at the start of the 86-87 season. He'd just inspired Argentina to World Cup glory in Mexico, with the greatest tournament performance of all time. Now he had his eyes set on success at club level. Napoli had never won Serie A before Maradona joined the club in 1984. The drought was finally brought to an end after 61 years, in Diego's third season at the Stadio San Paolo. Maradona only scored 10 league goals in 86-87, but finding the net in Italy during that era was notoriously difficult. Reaching double figures was a real achievement. Besides, Maradona's brilliance can't be measured in numbers. Napoli weren't an Italian powerhouse, never mind a European one. Maradona dragged them to heights that would have seemed unimaginable a few years earlier. Naples exploded after the title triumph, street parties went on for a week, and Maradona's face adorned numerous murals across the city. A local newspaper summed up what the Argentine meant to Napoli. We have no mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment, and sanitation. But none of this matters, because we have Maradona. 3. Cristiano Ronaldo – 2014-15 Only Paco Hento has won more Champions Leagues than Cristiano Ronaldo, who's lifted the famous trophy on five occasions. Yet, Ronaldo's best individual season didn't end with him as a Champions League winner. He didn't even win La Liga in 2014-15. But it's impossible to overlook his sensational showings that season. Ronaldo scored 48 goals in 35 La Liga matches. If he'd played all 38 games, he surely would have broken the 50-goal mark. In all competitions, CR7 found the net 61 times, his best ever tally. Carlo Ancelotti's attack-minded approach suited Ronaldo. He scored in both Clásicos and bagged five goals in a 9-1 thrashing of Granada. Barcelona won the treble in 2014-15, inspired by the MSN trio. But none of Messi, Neymar, or Suárez outscored Ronaldo in La Liga or the Champions League. 2. Gerd Müller – 1972-73 Gerd Müller was one of the most natural goal scorers the game has ever known. He was an out-and-out poacher. Sometimes you forgot he was playing, then you saw the ball in the back of your net. Müller was part of the all-conquering Bayern Munich team that won three European Cups in a row in the mid-70s. His own individual apex came a little earlier in the decade. In 1972-73, Müller scored 66 goals in 49 appearances in all competitions. That's an average of 1.34 goals per game across an entire season. 36 of those goals came in the Bundesliga as Bayern won the title. Müller scored a hat-trick on the opening day of the campaign and didn't look back from there. The legendary German scored a ridiculous 30 goals in other competitions, including 11 in six European Cup games. Bayern didn't even reach the semis, but Müller finished as the tournament's top scorer. 1. Lionel Messi – 2011-12 Well, who else could it be? Messi was magnificent season in, season out at Barcelona, but his efforts in 2011-12 were extraordinary even for him. This was Pep Guardiola's final campaign at the Camp Nou. It didn't finish with another La Liga or Champions League triumph, but Barcelona played some superb football and Messi was at the forefront. The Argentine became the first player in La Liga history to score 50 goals. He found the net 73 times in all competitions, setting a new European record that had existed since Gert Müller's 66 goals in 1972-3. The highlight was a remarkable five-goal haul against Bayer Leverkusen. No player had scored five times in a Champions League game before. Not for the first time, Messi broke new ground. There were records just about everywhere you looked – 35 goals at the Camp Nou, eight La Liga hat-tricks in a single season. Messi's 2011-12 was the greatest individual season in football history.