Serie A showcases a plethora of excellent strikers – but who are the deadliest finishers and which lucky clubs reap the benefits?
Many of the greatest attacking talents in world football have plied their trade on Italy’s shores, including several home-grown forwards who eventually became global superstars.
This season, we’ve witnessed golden oldies Luca Toni and Antonio Di Natale ripping up the record books and giving young upstarts such as Mauro Icardi and Paulo Dybala a run for their money in the goalscoring charts.
Top goalscorers after Week 33:
| Ranking | Player Name | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Carlos Tevez | Juventus | 20 |
| 2 | Luca Toni | Hellas Verona | 18 |
| = | Mauro Icardi | Inter | 18 |
| 4 | Jeremy Menez | AC Milan | 16 |
| 5 | Gonzalo Higuain | Napoli | 15 |
| 6 | Fabio Quagliarella | Torino | 13 |
| = | Paulo Dybala | Palermo | 13 |
| 8 | Miroslav Klose | Lazio | 12 |
| 9 | Manolo Gabbiadini | Sampdoria/Napoli | 12 |
| = | Antonio Di Natale | Udinese | 12 |
| 11 | Domenico Berardi | Sassuolo | 11 |
| = | Jose Callejon | Napoli | 11 |
| 13 | Massimo Maccarone | Empoli | 10 |
The above list represents the only players who’ve struck 10 goals or more in Serie A so far this term with just five matches remaining.
Though Argentine striker Carlos Tevez is the clear front-runner in the overall standings, is he this campaign’s most lethal finisher? Or, does an entirely different picture emerge when delving deeper to investigate the statistics behind the goals?
Shot-to-goal ratio (10+ goals):
| Ranking | Player Name | Club | Shots-to-goals | Ratio |
| 1 | Miroslav Klose | Lazio | 32 shots/12 goals | 2.67 |
| 2 | Jeremy Menez | AC Milan | 75/16 | 4.69 |
| 3 | Mauro Icardi | Inter | 93/18 | 5.16 |
| 4 | Carlos Tevez | Juventus | 105/20 | 5.25 |
| 5 | Antonio Di Natale | Udinese | 67/12 | 5.58 |
| 6 | Luca Toni | Hellas Verona | 103/18 | 5.72 |
| 7 | Manolo Gabbiadini | Sampdoria/Napoli | 75/12 | 6.25 |
| 8 | Gonzalo Higuain | Napoli | 99/15 | 6.6 |
| 9 | Jose Callejon | Napoli | 74/11 | 6.73 |
| 10 | Massimo Maccarone | Empoli | 71/10 | 7.10 |
| 11 | Domenico Berardi | Sassuolo | 84/11 | 7.64 |
| 12 | Paulo Dybala | Palermo | 113/13 | 8.69 |
| 13 | Fabio Quagliarella | Torino | 114/13 | 8.77 |
It turns out veteran Lazio goal-getter Miroslav Klose possesses the deadliest eye for goal in Serie A this season, requiring an average 2.67 shots to get his name on the score-sheet, while second-placed AC Milan forward Jeremy Menez needs to hit two additional efforts on goal before finding the back of the net.
Leading goalscorer overall, Carlos Tevez, is just outside the top-three positions on this impressive list. However, he can afford to miss the odd chance due to the regularity with which he is provided opportunities by his Juventus team-mates.
However, World Cup goals record holder Klose is the undisputed king when it comes to converting openings even at the ripe old age of 36.
How each Serie A team rank on shots-to-goals after Week 33:
| Ranking | Club | Shots-to-goals | Ratio |
| 1 | Lazio | 488/63 | 7.75 |
| 2 | AC Milan | 374/45 | 8.31 |
| 3 | Juventus | 533/63 | 8.46 |
| 4 | Genoa | 415/49 | 8.47 |
| 5 | Palermo | 405/46 | 8.80 |
| 6 | Napoli | 522/59 | 8.85 |
| 7 | Udinese | 349/37 | 9.43 |
| 8 | Hellas Verona | 393/41 | 9.59 |
| 9 | Cesena | 305/31 | 9.84 |
| 10 | Sassuolo | 392/39 | 10.05 |
| 11 | Roma | 463/46 | 10.07 |
| 12 | Inter | 413/50 | 10.26 |
| 13 | Sampdoria | 413/40 | 10.33 |
| 14 | Cagliari | 423/38 | 11.13 |
| 15 | Empoli | 431/38 | 11.34 |
| 16 | Fiorentina | 522/46 | 11.35 |
| 17 | Torino | 458/40 | 11.45 |
| 18 | Parma | 326/26 | 12.54 |
| 19 | Atalanta | 391/31 | 12.61 |
| 20 | Chievo | 393/25 | 15.72 |
Lazio are the most prolific team in tandem with the amount of efforts they unleash on goal, no doubt helped considerably by former German international Klose, while poor old Chievo try a whopping 15 shots collectively on average before notching.
The Aquile appear to have the perfect combination in not being afraid to attempt the most shots of any side in Serie A, but also with the precious ability to get those on target and beyond the opposition goalkeeper’s reach with the greatest regularity.
NB: all statistics taken from Opta
