The league phases of UEFA’s top two club competitions reach a dramatic conclusion this week.
By Filip Mishov
With the Champions League and Europa League‘s league phase entering the final round, Europe’s in-form strikers will be the main protagonists for their clubs in the race to reach the knockout stage, and FotMob analyses five prolific forwards who have displayed impressive consistency and efficiency in 2024/25.
Viktor Gyökeres (Sporting CP)
Without a shadow of a doubt, the Swedish centre-forward is putting in one of the most prolific seasons by a striker in recent years, and whenever someone questions a part of the 26-year-old’s rich attacking repertoire, Gyökeres answers the doubters on the pitch in no time. Right foot or left foot, his remarkable shot map speaks volumes for a complete forward who has scored 34 goals (including six in his debut campaign in the Champions League) and recorded six assists in just 33 appearances across all competitions this season.
And Gyökeres has still found a way to impress further in recent weeks. Sporting’s no. 9 came off the bench in two of the past three matches and even with only 44 minutes combined, Gyökeres managed to make an impact and score against both Rio Ave and RB Leipzig, respectively. With the Lisbon-based club sitting in 23rd place in the Champions League ahead of the group stage’s final round, Gyökeres’ performance from the start or off the bench will be crucial against Bologna to whether Sporting CP will secure a place in the round of 16 playoff.
Santiago Giménez (Feyenoord)
With a winning brace past Manuel Neuer in the penultimate round of the group phase and four goals and one assist noted in four matches in the Champions League overall, Santiago Giménez has fully announced himself on Europe’s biggest stage this season.
The Mexican may have scored a career-best 26 goals across all competitions last campaign, but this feels like the season when Feyenoord’s no. 29 truly rose to prominence with eye-catching performances against Manchester City, Sparta Prague and Bayern München, respectively, and Europe’s top clubs took note of his goalscoring consistency.
Additionally, the 23-year-old is fuelling the Rotterdam-based club’s bid to close the gap on the leading trio – PSV, Ajax, and Utrecht in the Eredivisie with seven goals and one assist in 11 league matches. Simultaneously, with Feyenoord sitting in 11th place and aiming to book a direct ticket to the Champions League’s round of 16, Giménez will have a big say in whether they will avoid the lottery of the knockout phase playoffs.
Jonathan David (Lille)
The Canadian may be the least familiar name on the list, but Jonathan David is the joint-third top scorer in the Champions League this season, with a couple of goals scored in the qualifying playoff round, and five goals scored in the league phase, with only Raphinha (8) and Robert Lewandowski (9) eclipsing his record. The 25-year-old is Lille’s joint-second best rated player with a 7.31 average rating from FotMob this season.
The two-footed striker was at the heart of Lille’s record-breaking 21-match unbeaten run across all competitions earlier this season, a run which stretched from mid-September right up until last week when Liverpool ended beat them at Anfield. David still managed to find the back of the net though!
With David’s contract expiring at the end of this season, the Canadian is playing for his future and seems to be on a mission to prove his value. It is fair to say that he has achieved that, with 18 goals scored in all competitions, including goals against Liverpool, Atletico Madrid, Juventus and Real Madrid among others. Interestingly enough, Lille will welcome Feyenoord in the final round of the Champions League’s group phase with both currently level on points and with a possible place in the top eight on the line, it will be interesting to see who will come on top: Santiago Giménez or Jonathan David.
Hugo Ekitike (Eintracht Frankfurt)
After spending a couple of years in the spotlight and enduring a difficult 18 months in the France capital with Paris Saint-Germain, Hugo Ekitike is finally finding his groove back in Germany as the 22-year-old is up and firing for Eintracht Frankfurt this season.
With five goals scored in his last four matches and 14 goals scored in total across all competitions, Ekitike’s form is peaking just at the right time. Especially when Frankfurt may need him to step up following the departure of usual strike partner Omar Marmoush to Manchester City.
Ekitike is not a traditional centre-forward, but rather one who likes to run the channels and possesses a technical ability to even play deeper, which makes him an exciting talent. Even though Eintracht Frankfurt’s place in the Europa League’s top 8 is all but secured, the group stage’s final round presents an opportunity for Ekitike to continue his goalscoring streak, against Roma at the Stadio Olimpico.
Benjamin Šeško (RB Leipzig)
The only goalscorer on the list whose current club are definitely ending their journey in European competition this season, is Leipzig’s Benjamin Šeško.
Leipzig have endured an abysmal campaign in the Champions League by securing only one win from seven matches ahead of their final match against Sturm Graz, but when speaking about the most in-form strikers in Europe, one simply can’t leave ‘Big Ben’ out. Particularly because his move to another European giant has all but been confirmed.
Responsible for half of Die Roten Bullen’s eight goals in the Champions League and scoring in all but one match in 2025, to date, the Slovenian’s form might have been the club’s only hope for salvaging the season, with 14 goals and three assists recorded across all competitions. Now, we’ll see whether Šeško can transfer that conversion rate to a new league and a new challenge.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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