Paco Alcacer has started the 2019/20 season in unrivalled form for club and country. The Borussia Dortmund and Spain striker has scored nine goals in just seven appearances across four different competitions so far. Alcacer would be looking to continue his rich form when he faces former club Barcelona in the Champions League.
The Spanish international played 50 times for the Catalan side but averaged just 45 minutes per game and scored only 11 goals over two seasons before being allowed to go out on loan and flourish at Dortmund (Via Transfermrkt).
Since moving to the Signal Iduna Park, he has netted 25 times in 37 games and is now set to show a visiting Barcelona in the Champions League why he is Europe’s most in-form striker and why they should regret letting him go (Via Transfermrkt).
Paco Alcácer has now scored in every game he has played for club and country this season:
⚽️ vs. Bayern
⚽️ vs. Uerdingen
⚽️⚽️ vs. Augsburg
⚽️ vs. Köln
⚽️ vs. Union Berlin
⚽️ vs. Romania
⚽️⚽️ vs. Faroe IslandsHe's already scored in four competitions and it's only September. 😳 pic.twitter.com/UDXwbMivym
— Squawka (@Squawka) September 8, 2019
Paco Alcacer’s campaign opened with Supercup success, netting the first goal in Borussia Dortmund’s 2-0 win over Bayern Munich to claim the season’s first piece of silverware and herald in what could be a monumental year for the Die Schwarzgelben. He followed that a week later with another strike in the DFB Cup first round against KFC Uerdingen.
It certainly signalled the start of a goal-filled season for the Spanish forward as he looks to challenge Robert Lewandowski for the Bundesliga’s Torjägerkanone, and potentially even the European Golden Shoe. The pair have already set off well ahead of the rest in what looks like being one of the league’s most exciting top-scorer races in years.
The BVB man has bagged five goals in the first three matchdays of 2019/20 against Augsburg (two goals), Cologne and Union Berlin. It means he has struck six times in his first five domestic outings for Borussia, at an average of a goal every 75 minutes (via Whoscored).
Over the course of last season he scored 19 from 32 competitive games, averaging a goal every 86 minutes (via Whoscored). That form in his first year in Germany saw him recalled to the Spain squad for October’s fixtures against Wales and England, ending a two-year international absence.
Despite bagging a brace and one goal respectively in those games, Alcacer did not feature again under Luis Enrique. However, his early-season goal glut has not gone unnoticed by successor Robert Moreno, who called up the Dortmund man for September’s UEFA European Championship qualifiers against Romania and the Faroe Islands.
Alcacer did his thing for La Roja and scored in both matches. More recently, he came off the bench in Gijon to score twice in the 4-0 win over the Faroe Islands and put Spain in control of Group F.
It all means Alcacer has amassed nine goals from seven games in four different competitions with two different teams. Five of those have come with his right foot, including a direct free-kick, three with his left and one with his head.
His total is the greatest by any player in Europe’s top five leagues in 2019/20, clear of the seven scored by Lewandowski, Norwich City’s Teemu Pukki and Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero.
Paco Alcacer for club and country this season:
• 7 games
• 9 goalsTeemu Pukki for club and country this season:
• 6 games
• 7 goalsTwo of the most in-form strikers right now. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/9booZEGBF8
— Squawka (@Squawka) September 9, 2019
With the Champions League just about a fortnite away, not only will he be aiming to stretch his goalscoring prowess into a fifth different competition this season – he has the added incentive of facing the club that deemed him surplus to requirements behind Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.
With Barcelona now coming to town, Alcacer can not only show the Spanish champions why he is Europe’s most clinical striker but also why his departure has very much been their loss and Dortmund’s gain.
