Goals galore: Bundesliga still Europe's highest-scoring major league
With a whopping 138 strikes from the first four matchdays, the Bundesliga is leading the way with goals, goals and more goals. bundesliga.com looks into the net-bulging trend...
Harry Kane has a handful already, Serhou Guirassy is knocking them in left, right and centre, thrilling new signings Xavi Simons and Victor Boniface have been busy bulging nets while Florian Grillitsch banged one in from his own half. The goals just keep on coming in the Bundesliga.
The total of 138 strikes after four matchdays is the second-highest in the league's history at this stage of the season (after 1984/85, 140). The average of 3.8 goals per game also makes the Bundesliga the highest-scoring of UEFA's top 10 domestic competitions at the current stage of the season.
In fact, without a single goalless draw in the opening four rounds of fixtures, anyone watching the Bundesliga has been literally guaranteed goals this season!
Watch: The top 5 goals from Matchday 4
There is no doubt that the introduction of some world-class marksmen has helped spark the explosion in goals. England captain Kane, winner of the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup and three-time English Premier League top scorer, has brought his expertise in finding the net seamlessly into his new life in Germany.
Kane was able to celebrate on his Bundesliga debut, a 4-0 win over Werder Bremen and followed that up with a brace in his first league appearance in Munich (a 3-1 victory over Augsburg), leaving no doubt he is the real deal ready to bag goals by the bucketload for the champions.
Kane's four goals in his first four appearances might have been enough to see him lead the scoring charts - had it been a normal season. There are four other players currently boasting at least the same tally early in this astonishing campaign.
Watch: Harry Kane vs. Victor Boniface: Ready, set, score!
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Kevin Behrens has proved that for all the array of talent in the Bundesliga, there are few habits more effective at sticking the ball in the net than delivering a mighty header. He nodded the ball in three times in a single encounter as Union Berlin beat Mainz 4-1 in their opening match of the season, and headed in yet another in a 4-1 victory at Darmstadt the following weekend.
Victor Boniface has shown since his arrival at Bayer Leverkusen that he is a man made for scoring. He won the Bundesliga's Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month awards in August as he wowed the league with his clinical and composed centre-forward play - and he also boats four strikes from a league-leading 29 shots so far.
Watch: Victor Boniface is Bundesliga Player of the Month for August
Jonas Wind is an established Bundesliga attacker who has come hurtling out of the blocks this season - with five strikes in his first four appearances. No Wolfsburg player has previously started a campaign in such free-scoring fashion, despite the club being the home of such ferocious talents as Grafite, Kevin De Bruyne and Wout Weghorst over the years.
All these fine forwards' exploits have been eclipsed by Guirassy, however. VfB Stuttgart have soared higher than anyone could have expected before the season started and are currently up in fourth place with more goals than any other team in the Bundesliga. The Guinea international has found the net in all four appearances so far this season and is getting progressively deadly - building on a burst of two goals within two minutes in a 5-0 win over Freiburg to fire a hat-trick as his side won 3-1 in Mainz.
There is only one player in the history of the Bundesliga who has previously matched Guirassy's early-season scoring pace of eight in four matches. Not Robert Lewandowski or Gerd Müller, but Borussia Mönchengladbach's Peter Meyer in 1967/68.
Watch: Guirassy the hat-trick hero as Stuttgart win 3-1 at Mainz
It would be wrong to put the glut of goals down entirely to the guys tasked with sticking the ball in the net, however. The Bundesliga has also seen a top-up to its already bulging stocks of creative talent, and none have stole the limelight quite like Xavi.
The RB Leipzig loan signing has proven to be a master playmaker despite his tender age of 20 as his side have raced to a club-record 13 goals in the first four matchdays. The Dutchman has assisted four goals so far - more than any other player in the league - and has struck three goals himself, including a stunning drive in a 3-0 win at Union Berlin.
Watch: All of Xavi's Bundesliga goals and assists
You do not hit 138 goals from attacking trickery alone, and some less likely scorers have also contributed to the on-going goal fest. Mats Hummels has made a career out of keeping opposing strikers quiet rather than his own goal threat, yet he has joined a select group of five other players in scoring in a record 16th consecutive Bundesliga season - thanks to two strikes at Freiburg in a 4-2 win on Matchday 4.
Watch: Mats Hummels - 16 seasons, 16 goals
Then there are goals that quite simply come out of nowhere. Such as Grillitsch's wonder strike in Hoffenheim's 3-1 win at Mainz that was delivered from within his own half - and was the least likely goal of the season with an xG value of 0.80%.
Watch: Florian Grillitsch scores from his own half as Hoffenheim win 3-1 at Mainz
Some 38 goals fell all over Germany on Matchday 4, which made it the highest-scoring weekend of the lot so far in 2023/24. Augsburg were the only one of the league's 18 teams to fail to net.
With big guns Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Leverkusen all at home on Matchday 5 (against Bochum, Wolfsburg and Heidenheim respectively) there is every reason to expect the deluge of strikes to continue!
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