Thomas Müller twice as prolific as Lionel Messi at previous World Cups

Germany’s 226 goals makes Die Mannschaft the World Cup’s second-highest scoring team ever, just three behind Brazil, while German attacker Thomas Müller heads to Qatar atop the individual scorer’s list.

The Bayern Munich forward has scored 10 goals in 16 World Cup appearances to date, averaging a goal every 1.6 games. Of players playing in Qatar, he boasts the best goals-per-game ratio of those to have played at least 10 games at the tournament, and is tied for the eighth most goals in World Cup history.

Brazil and PSG forward Neymar has the next-best ratio, averaging a goal every 1.67 games, via six strikes in his 10 World Cup outings, and 35-year-old Uruguay striker Luis Suárez has the joint second-best total goals record of those playing in Qatar and will look to improve on seven goals in 13 games, a goal every 1.86 games on average.

Averaging a goal every two games, Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku and Croatia’s Ivan Perišić have also been prolific at the tournament, each scoring five goals in their 10 appearances which puts their World Cup scoring average above Cristiano Ronaldo, Eden Hazard, Edinson Cavani and Antoine Griezmann.

Meanwhile, a goal every 1.6 games makes Müller almost twice as prolific as Lionel Messi at World Cups with the Argentina striker averaging a goal every 3.17 after six goals in his 19 career appearances at the tournament.

Matt Hearn | GGFN