Robert Lewandowski has scored 43 goals already this season, equalling his personal best with a potential 15 matches still to play. 

The Bayern striker is on course for one of the most prolific seasons in recent history, but where does his year rank amongst other great individual campaigns?

To decide, we've picked out the greatest individual seasons by a player from each of Europe's top five leagues since 2000.

5. Ciro Immobile | Serie A | 2017/18

Appearances: 47

Goals: 41

Hat-tricks: 1

League: 29

Europe: 8

Cups: 4

Immobile has gone under the radar as one of Europe’s most consistent strikers in recent seasons.

His understated style of play – intelligent movement, impeccable finishing and hard work off the ball – belies his status as one of the continent’s best goalscorers.

His 2017/18 season for Lazio was the best by a Serie A player in the 21^st century, with Immobile netting 41 goals in 47 appearances.

He may have shared the Capocannoniere – the award for Serie A’s top scorer – with Mauro Icardi, but Icardi didn’t score a single goal in any other competition.

Immobile, meanwhile, netted eight in the Europa League as Lazio made the quarter-finals, and scored four in the Coppa Italia as they were eliminated in the semis.

4. Mohamed Salah | Premier League | 2017/18

Appearances: 50

Goals: 43

Hat-tricks: 1

League: 32

Europe: 10

Cups: 1

When Liverpool paid £36.9m for Salah in the summer of 2017, many baulked at the fee, not least because his previous Premier League spell, at Chelsea, had been so unsuccessful.

It took just one season for any doubts to be flipped on their head. Liverpool had not been ripped off, they had struck one of the deals of the decade.

Salah’s 32 goals in the Premier League was a record for a 38-game season, eclipsing both Alan Shearer and Cristiano Ronaldo’s 31-goal campaigns from 1995/96 and 2007/08 respectively.

His 10 goals in the Champions League took Liverpool to the final, where an unfortunate first-half injury saw him limp off in tears as Real Madrid won 3-1.

While the Reds finished the season without a trophy, Salah was named PFA Player of the Year and FWA Player of the Year for a campaign that may not be matched for a long, long time.

3. Robert Lewandowski | Bundesliga | 2019/20

Appearances: 37

Goals: 43

Hat-tricks: 2

League: 29

Europe: 11

Cups: 3

Lewandowski’s current campaign already ranks as one of the greatest goalscoring seasons by a Bundesliga player in modern times, and there is still a significant chunk to go.

The Bayern striker has equalled his best season tally of 43, set in 2016/17, having played ten games fewer.

In the league he remains two behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s tally of 31 goals in 2016/17 but, with seven games left, that won’t be the case for long.

His form in Europe, meanwhile, has been breathtaking. Lewandowski has netted in all six Champions League games that he has featured in, racking up 11 goals so far.

His goals have put Bayern on the verge of an eighth-straight Bundesliga title, while keeping them in the hunt for a 20^th DFB-Pokal and a sixth European Cup.

2. Zlatan Ibrahimovic | Ligue 1 | 2015/16

Appearances: 51

Goals: 50

Hat-tricks: 2

League: 38

Europe: 5

Cups: 7

Some will say that any Ligue 1 goal tally carries less weight, but scoring 50 goals in 51 games is stunning whichever way you look at it.

As PSG finished 31 points ahead of anyone else in the table, Ibrahimovic ended the season with 17 more goals than any other player in the division.

Zlatan exceeded his personal best goalscoring season by a full nine goals, helping PSG to a domestic treble in his final season at the club.

It is easy to forget, too, that Ibrahimovic was 34 years old at this point – around the same age as Cristiano Ronaldo is now.

For comparison, Ronaldo’s 2018/19 campaign with Juventus saw him score 28 goals, his lowest total since 2008/09.

1. Lionel Messi | La Liga | 2011/12

Appearances: 60

Goals: 73

Hat-tricks: 10

League: 50

Europe: 15

Cups: 8

In the year 3000, when football is being played on Mars, this season will still be remembered as the greatest in the history of the European game.

To score 73 goals in a season at any level is impressive but doing it at the very top is, quite frankly, superhuman.

Over the course of the campaign, Messi broke club records for most consecutive games scored in (10), most consecutive away games scored in (7), fastest hat-trick (17 minutes) and, most importantly, the most goals ever for Barcelona (beating Cesar Rodriguez’s tally of 232).

He scored ten hat-tricks – including efforts against Valencia, Espanyol and Atletico Madrid – and broke the record for most goals in a Champions League game as he plundered five against Bayer Leverkusen.

It is a shame that Messi’s peak coincided with Guardiola’s trough at Barca as they lost out on the league title and exited the Champions League at the semi-final stage, but we should never let that take away from the greatest individual season we will ever see.

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