King Makers: Europe’s Leading Assist Lights

Manchester United new boy Angel Di Maria’s three assists for Argentina last night against Germany should come as no surprise – he was top of the assist charts in La Liga last season and second best in the Champions League.

We look at the best goal makers in Europe’s top leagues, with some of their best efforts.

Angel Di Maria:
The Argentinian finished second, behind Lionel Messi, in La Liga’s assists charts in 2011/12 but went one better last season. It’s no surprise that Cristiano Ronaldo has lamented his departure from Real Madrid – six of his 17 league assists last season were for the Portuguese star. Karim Benzema also notched four goals from Di Maria’s lethal passes.

Koke:
Koke’s creativity, along with Diego Costa’s goals, was one of the major factors in Atletico Madrid’s fairytale success last season. The Spanish international, whose real name is the slightly more tongue-twisting Jorge Resurrección Merodio, made 15 league goals for the La Liga champions – seven of which were laid on for the now-departed Diego Costa.

Steven Gerrard:
Every season Steven Gerrard seems to be written off in certain quarters as being past it. However he’s still a formidable creative fulcrum for Liverpool, beating off competition from younger talents such as Mesut Ozil and David Silva to top last season’s Premier League assist charts. While he made five goals for Daniel Sturridge, his dead balls are also critical to the Reds’ success, as he also created four goals for Martin Skrtel alone.

Luis Suarez:
Liverpool dominated the Premier League assists charts last term, no surprise given the amount of goals they scored. Despite missing the start of the season through suspension, Luis Suarez managed to finish runner-up to Gerrard, as well as topping the scoring charts. His unselfishness in front of goal is highlighted by the fact he laid on six assists for Raheem Sterling and four for Sturridge.

Francesco Totti:
Francesco Totti’s been in and around the top of Serie A’s assist charts for years, but claimed joint top spot last season during a relatively successful Roma campaign under Rudi Garcia. He finished the season with eleven, three of which were for former Arsenal enigma Gervinho.

Alessio Cerci:
Atletico should have no problem creating goals this season. While they’ve managed to tie Koke down to a new contract, they’ve also added Italian winger Alessio Cerci to their ranks. Cerci finished joint top for assists with Totti in Serie A last term with eleven for Torino, with his creative spoils being shared between eight different team-mates.

Marco Reus:
Despite a disappointing Bundesliga campaign, where they finished 19 points behind Bayern Munich, Dortmund weren’t short of goals. Marco Reus finished the season with most assists, claiming eleven for the league runners-up. Jurgen Klopp will be hoping he can forge a successful relationship with new striker Adrián Ramos and Ciro Immobile – as a third of his assists last campaign were for the now departed Robert Lewandowski.