Top 10 best La Liga players of all-time: Can Mbappe join the list in 2025?

The English Premier League might be widely regarded as the best league in the world, but it's all about Spain when it comes to technical talent.

To prove our point, we're taking a look at the top 10 best La Liga players of all-time.

Top 10 best La Liga players of all-time – our countdown

10. Laszlo Kubala

For the first name on our list of the best La Liga players of all time, we take you back to 1951, when Hungarian forward Kubala arrived at Barcelona. Kubala landed at the Nou Camp without huge hype, despite having proven a more than efficient goal scorer for clubs in his homeland. But what he achieved with Barca surpassed every single expectation.

It didn't take Kubala long to write his name into the history books, either. He hit 26 goals during his first year, including one spellbound showing against Sporting Gijon, where he scored a record-equalling seven times. He added two La Liga titles and three Copa del Generalisimo (Copa Del Rey) trophies to his bulging personal cabinet within his first three seasons.

Fast forward to the end of his Barca stay, when he took up the reins as manager. By that time, he'd notched 280 goals and won 11 pieces of major silverware, but he wasn't quite finished in La Liga, and a short spell as player-coach at Espanyol saw him grab a few more goals.

9. Iker Casillas

Iker Casillas, take a bow. He's the only goalkeeper to make the cut. The Spanish World Cup and twice European Championship-winning shot-stopper joined the Real Madrid youth team prior to his 10th birthday and made his senior bow at the age of just 18. Shortly after, he became the youngest keeper ever appearing in a Champions League tie. He'd go on to win the tournament in the same season.

In total, Casillas appeared between the sticks 725 times for Real Madrid, with 510 coming in the league. He recorded an impressive 177 clean sheets in La Liga, giving him a near 35% shutout rate to boot. In terms of the trophy cabinet, it's well stocked with two Copa Del Rey wins, three Champions League titles and five La Liga triumphs amongst 19 honours from his time with Real.

8. Raul

When you're the second-greatest goal scorer at a club like Real Madrid, it's fair to say you'll feature high up the list of the best La Liga players of all. Raul joined Real as a 15-year-old from neighbouring Atletico and went on to become the club's youngest-ever player, bagging the first of his 323 Madrid goals against his former youth team.

Raul's inaugural campaign ended with La Liga glory and the personal award of La Liga's breakthrough player. It was the first of many shining accolades, and when Raul finally left Real to join Schalke, he did so with an impressive collection of honours, most notably scooping six La Liga titles and notching three Champions League trophies.

7. Francisco Gento

A raw look at the trophy count would have you ranking Real Madrid legend Gento as the best player in La Liga history. Why? Well, nobody can match the 12 league titles he boasts. It wasn't just in Spain where the former Racing Santander man collected the medals, though; the six European Cups he won is another record.

His rapid pace and trickery made him a nightmare for defenders, whilst his ability to find the net from range meant he was central to several memorable moments. In total, Gento made 438 La Liga appearances, with his career total standing at over 650.

6. Dani Alves

You can't have a list of the best La Liga players of all time without including the greatest right back to ever play the game. Alves was a sensation for Barca as they dominated European football between 2008 and 2016. He helped the club lift three Champions Leagues, five Spanish Cups, and six league titles during that time.

With Barca, Alves started gaining more widespread recognition for his marauding displays. That said, he'd already been doing the business for several years with Sevilla. The silverware wasn't new either, because he arrived from Los Palanganas with two UEFA Cups and a Copa Del Rey in his pocket.

In total, Alves managed to rack up over 400 La Liga appearances. The fact that he left for Juventus with a goal contribution every four matches is a rather telling nod to just how much he did to create the attack-minded fullbacks we demand in our game nowadays.

5. Sergio Ramos

The greatest defender Spanish football has ever seen is at number five on our list. Ramos came through the ranks at Sevilla but was quickly snapped up by Real. Those characteristics mean he's often not a hugely popular figure away from the Bernabeu, but everyone knows they wish their team had players with Ramos' spirit.

His game isn't all about mentality and being a master of the dark arts though. Defensively, he is rock solid regardless of whether he plays in the full-back or centre-back positions, and he is also the highest-scoring defender in La Liga history.

4. Xavi and Andres Iniesta

That's right, we're bending the rules slightly here. We won't apologise though, because Xavi and Iniesta simply go together. Neither one of them would have been what they were without the other. Xavi, who is a few years older, was the first to make the step up to the first team. His breakthrough came in the 1998/99 season, as Barca won the La Liga title.

It would be the only trophy he'd get his hands on until Iniesta joined him in the midfield in 2002. The Spanish duo went on to establish themselves as the heartbeat of Barcelona for over a decade, racking up an incredible trophy haul.

In addition to the La Liga winner's medal Xavi had already collected, they shared another seven before Xavi called time on his career. In addition, there were four UCL titles, but the unquestionable highlight of their domestic success came in 2012/13, as Barca equalled the La Liga points record with 100 points.

In 2021, six years after leaving the club as a player, Xavi would return to Camp Nou as manager. It wasn't always easy in a now Real-dominated scene, but he drove his charges on to lift the 2022/23 La Liga title.

Under his management, younger talents Ansu Fati and Pedri established themselves in the first team, while paving the way for Spain’s Euro 2024 revelation Lamine Yamal to break into the senior outfit. Sadly for the romantics in Catalonia, he would receive his marching orders in April 2024 as a poor title defence meandered to a limp end.

3. Cristiano Ronaldo

Given that Ronaldo has spent significant time in several other countries, he was always going to struggle to rank in first place. This is, after all, not a Ronaldo vs Messi debate. But he's a comfortable podium sitter here, in what is purely a rundown of La Liga legends, by virtue of the 451 goals he netted for Los Blancos across 438 appearances.

In La Liga alone, his goal contributions stand at 311 goals and 96 assists in just 292 games. That equates to a tally of 1.4 goal involvements per appearance!

On top of just banging in the goals, which Ronaldo could do from anywhere on the field, he also produced big moments to help the club deliver silverware. This is shown most certainly by four Champions League wins (across which he scored an incredible 105 goals) and two La Liga titles. Two Copa Del Rey triumphs also sit proudly within Ronaldo's haul.

…Oh, and then there is just the small matter of him being Real Madrid's leading scorer of all time and the fact he scooped four Ballon d'Or trophies during his time in the Spanish capital.

Even today, he’s still a major draw for fans worldwide, plying his trade in the mega-rich Saudi Pro League for the very wealthy Al-Nassr.

With ‘CR7’ lifting the Arab Club Champions Cup in 2023, the promise of trophies remains. So, too, are the goals, despite him turning 40 in February 2025, with Ronaldo making inroads towards 1,000 career goals after his 901st came against Scotland in the September 2024 international break.

2. Alfredo Di Stefano

Before we go on to sing the praises of Di Stefano, it might interest you to know the legendary Real Madrid man was actually part of the welcome that greeted Ronaldo on his arrival at the Bernabeu back in 2009. Anyway, in our opinion, Di Stefano pips the Portuguese to the runner-up spot.

Before we detail why, we'll go back to the beginning when Real and Barca struck up a deal that would be impossible today. In short, the two clubs had an agreement in place where Di Stefano could play for both sides. Barca found the player lacklustre in his early showings and sold their stake to Real, making Di Stefano a bonafide Los Blanco. It remains arguably the club's biggest mistake of all time.

Di Stefano stayed with Real Madrid for over a decade and went on to establish himself as arguably their greatest player of all time. He's predominantly known for his goal-scoring prowess, which, for Real, was a total of 308 in 396 matches. Yet, he could do everything a footballer required, be it shooting, passing, heading or tackling. You name it, Di Stefano could do it.

The fact he led the team to five successive European Cups (with goals in every final!), along with eight La Liga trophies and one Spanish Cup, should be evidence enough. If it isn't, maybe two Ballon d'Or wins are.

1. Lionel Messi

There are no prizes for guessing who tops our list of the best La Liga players of all time. The little magician came through the system at Barcelona after joining the club at 13 from Newell's Old Boys. Since then, he's not only established himself as their best-ever player, but he is also seen as the greatest player to have ever played the beautiful game by a lot of players, coaches, pundits and fans.

His total of 474 league goals for Barcelona seems to settle the whole Ronaldo vs Messi debate in a La Liga sense, and almost nobody reading these words is likely ever to see his equal in the Spanish top flight.

He’s lighting up the stateside scene today, playing alongside old strike partner Luis Suarez for Inter Miami. And despite being in his ‘twilight’ years like Ronaldo, Messi is still experiencing success, winning the 45th trophy of his career in July 2024 when lifting the Copa America – just 19 months after finally becoming a world champion at 35.

Could Mbappe join this list?: Our prediction

After years and years of speculation, Kylian Mbappe finally joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2024. Having already achieved so much at PSG and with France, the 26-year-old will be determined to join these hallowed La Liga ranks.

On the surface, his record so far in the Spanish top flight is pretty good. Mbappe is comfortably his team's top scorer with his 24 league goals coming at a rate of one every 107 minutes.

However, despite the goals flowing, things have not gone entirely smoothly for Mbappe at the Bernabeu.

Real took a while to get going with Mbappe in the side, and humiliating back-to-back home defeats to Barcelona and AC Milan put Los Blancos in crisis mode in the autumn.

The Frenchman's early performances caused concern, with him missing penalties in crunch matches against Liverpool and Athletic Club in November. In both matches, Real lost.

Mbappe was also criticised for his off-ball work and positioning, with accusations that his profile is too similar to that of Vinicius Junior.

While he has looked much sharper so far in 2025, Mbappe hasn't entirely silenced his critics, and there remains the sense that his presence has not been beneficial to the likes of Vinicius and Jude Bellingham. Both players have needed to adapt their game in a different system to the one we saw last season, and both have scored far fewer goals with Mbappe in the side.

The World Cup winner will also feel he has many levels still to go up on a personal level. At PSG, he scored 0.95 goals per 90, a rate he will be determined to hit once again as he chases the Ballon d'Or over the coming years.

Mbappe has had some truly stellar performances in the second half of the season, netting a hat-trick against Real Valladolid, and scoring key goals against Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

The Frenchman's real piece de resistance, however, was his Champions League performances against Manchester City.

In the first leg, Mbappe brought Los Blancos level after Erling Haaland had opened the scoring, and at the Bernabeu, he tore Pep Guardiola's men to shreds, scoring a hat-trick.

A particular highlight was Mbappe leaving Josko Gvardiol crumpled in a heap after turning him inside out.

Mbappe is growing into the Madrid shirt, and will surely only get better from here. With time, there is no reason he can't rival even the most illustrious names on this list.

Will Mbappe win the Golden Boot in his first season?

Mbappe certainly has a taste for Golden Boots. At PSG, he won six in a row, only sharing once with Wissam Ben Yedder.

Despite consistent scorers like Julian Alvarez and international teammate Antoine Griezmann, who also reside in La Liga, Mbappe has one main rival for the Pichichi award: Robert Lewandowski.

The Polish veteran will be determined to reclaim the trophy he won in his debut 2022/23 campaign after losing to Artem Dobvyk in 2023/24. The Barcelona striker started the season on fire, with 14 goals in the first 12 games.

However, Lewandowski has been dealing with an injury over the past month, and that has helped Mbappe close the gap in a two-horse Pichichi race.

Heading into matchday 35, which sees Barcelona and Real Madrid meet in a decisive Clasico, Lewandowski is sat on 25 goals, with Mbappe just one behind on 24.

With both sides chasing the title, both men should get plenty of opportunities to add to their tallies between now and the end of the season.

While Lewandowski is in pole position, he's also more likely to be replaced earlier in games, or even rotated, with Ferran Torres providing strong competition. That could serve up an opportunity for Mbappe to finish his debut season in Spain on a personal high, by winning the prestigious trophy.