Stats Analysis: Frequent Shooters - Minutes per Shot

On March 20, 2012, Lionel Messi became FC Barcelona's all-time record goalscorer at the age of just 24. His 6th league hat-trick of the season against Granada, and 9th over all competitions so far, took him to 34 goals and the top of La Liga goalscoring charts.

The fact that his unbelievable record this season has only just seen him overtake Cristiano Ronaldo in Spain's elite league is somewhat unbelievable, while there have been a number of stand out scorers across Europe. With the likes of van Persie, Ibrahimovic, Gomez and Giroud all finding the net with exceptional regularity across Europe's top 5 leagues, we have decided to gauge the most frequent goal threats in the continent.

To do so we have calculated the players to go the least time (minutes) between efforts at goal, with some surprising findings and equally predictable inclusions thrown in. To be worthy of a place in our results, only players to have played at least 500 minutes of league action this season were considered, so, here is your league-by-league breakdown, starting in Spain.

La Liga

It seems only right to start in La Liga after such an introduction, though rather than brightening the ever-present spotlight on Lionel Messi our results, perhaps unsurprisingly, show that Cristiano Ronaldo leads the way in Spain, and indeed the rest of Europe. Real's winger, if you can class him as that, has attempted a shot at goal every 13 minutes, proving the old 'if at first you don't succeed' adage by scoring 32 times in the league this season.

On a parallel in terms of the least shocking findings imaginable in this investigation, Lionel Messi ranks second behind Ronaldo, but fourth in all of Europe having mustered a shot every 16.3 minutes thus far. Villarreal, who faced Ronaldo's Madrid on Wednesday night, will be bemoaning the early loss of Guiseppe Rossi to injury, with the Italian international's absence having a huge impact on their season with the yellow submarine down in 17th. Rossi places third in La Liga, with a shot every 17.8 minutes on average, while Ronaldo's teammates Benzema (6th) and Higuain (9th) also rank in the top 10.

Premier League

One could easily be forgiven for assuming that the most frequent shooters in each league will invariably be the top scorers in the division, though that is not the case outside of Spain. In England's Premier League top scorer van Persie registers in 7th place, with a shot every 19.6 minutes. It is, in fact, the Man City duo of Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko who lead the way, ranking 2nd and 3rd respectively in Europe, both ahead of Messi. The shy and retiring Balotelli has had a shot very 15.7 minutes to be precise, while City's top scorer Aguero has shot every 21 minutes in comparison.

Some interesting inclusions in the top 10 include the out of favour Jermaine Defoe in 3rd (every 17.6 mins), as well as QPR's Akos Buszaky, ahead of van Persie, in 6th (every 19.3 mins). The Hungarian's teammate at QPR, Adel Taarabt ranks highly in the division despite having failed to score this season, placing in 14th. In contrast Gylfi Sigurdsson has been in the league for a little over two months and settled right in, netting 5 goals having tried his luck every 22.3 minutes on average so far.

Serie A

Moving into Italy, once again the league's top scorer is outside the top 5 here, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic's tally of 20 league goals coming due to a willingness to shoot every 21 minutes on average. Atop the pile is Palermo talisman Fabrizio Miccoli, who is the league's only player to have reached double figures for both goals (11) and assists (12). He has managed the former having attempted to work the keeper at every opportunity, both from open play and dead ball situations, doing so, on average, every 17.5 minutes. The man who comes in behind Miccoli has divided opinions at his club, with Wesley Sniejder's absence coinciding with a 7-game winning streak for Inter, who have faltered and then some since his reinstatement to the starting XI.

It is fair to say that when he has played, the Dutchman has been a real threat but is also often wayward with his shooting having netted just once despite attempting a shot at goal every 17.6 minutes on average. Some unsurprising findings in the top 10 include the likes of Di Natale (4th) and Jovetic (5th), while Fabio Quagliarella's appearance in third is certainly more of a shock. Having started just 5 games for Juve this season, the forward has been keen to impress, firing off shot every 17.8 minutes when given the chance.

Bundesliga

If one were to hazard a guess at who would be leading the way in terms of minutes per shot in the Bundesliga, names such as Gomez, Huntelaar and Pizzaro would surely crop up frequently. However, none of the top 3 scorers in the league feature in the top 10 here, though Lewandowski - tied with Pizarro on 16 goals - does come in at a still fairly lowly 8th. The player leading the way, in Mainz's Andreas Ivanschitz, is not even a striker, nor a first team regular, showing just how confident the Austrian is, often trying his luck from distance to fire in a shot every 20.9 minutes of playing time on average.

In second place Arjen Robben, whose season has been restricted by injury thus far making his tally of 10 goals all the more impressive, tries his luck every 22 minutes, with Germany's top 10 filled with players who have played limited roles for one reason or another. The likes of Perisic (Dortmund), Bobadilla (MGladbach), Arnautovic (Wolfsburg) and Derdiyok (Leverkusen) have all failed to rack up 1000 minutes of playing time despite featuring in the top 10 here, while Papiss Demba Cisse is also present having attempted a shot at goal every 25.1 minutes on average prior to his move to Newcastle.

Ligue 1

While there are certainly some expected names cropping up in our Ligue 1 leaderboard, the man who tops the pile is not exactly the obvious assumption. Rennes' attacking right winger Jires Kembo-Ekoko has attempted, on average, a shot every 20.2 minutes to help the 24-year-old chip in with a very handy 8-goal haul thus far. He beats off competition from France's first division's leading scorer Olivier Giroud, with the Montepellier target man a close second having netted his high of 17 league goals having mustered a an effort at goal every 21.7 minutes.

Brazilian's Ederson (Lyon) and Brandao (Marseille) haven't found much game time at their respective clubs but it isn't through want of trying in terms of shots at goal, while the latter's teammate Loic Remy is third in Ligue 1 having tried his luck every 24.2 minutes. While Remy's presence has limited the inclusion of Brandao at Marseille, Gomis has done the same to Ederson at Lyon, proving ever so slightly more eager to get his shot off, doing so every 25.7 minutes compared to the reserve forward's 26.3.