Revealed: Which teams elite strikers fare worst against featuring Messi, Rashford and Neymar

A lot is often made of a striker having a particular good goalscoring record against a certain opponent or set of teams. Jamie Vardy, for example, has a terrific record against the Premier League's established top-six. Of his most favoured opponents, so to speak, the top three are Arsenal (9 goals), Liverpool (7) and Manchester City (6).

But what about players with bad records against certain clubs? Who are the bogey teams for some of the world's elite forwards? This thought was provoked on Tuesday after Raheem Sterling drew another blank against Manchester United. It was a comfortable 3-1 win for Manchester City but Sterling failed to end his wait for a goal against the Red Devils and spurned several chances in the process. In fact, Sterling has failed to score in all 18 of his appearances against United in his career, by far and away his worst record against a specific club.

It hasn't been for a lack of trying on Sterling's behalf. Against only Tottenham (7) has Sterling missed more clear-cut goalscoring chances than matches with United (6) in his career. In no particular order, here are 10 other renowned forwards across Europe and the team they fare worst against.

Lionel Messi vs Chelsea  - 3 goals in 10 matches

Lionel Messi is not only one of the greatest players of all-time but one of the greatest goalscorers. It's slightly unfair to say his game raises against the quality of opposition, as he is generally brilliant every match, but he does have a knack of spectcular moments in the biggest of games. He has 37 goals in 38 games against Sevilla and 25 goals in 27 league matches against Atletico. Against Chelsea, however, Messi's record is far from special. In fact, the Barcelona ace has only managed three goals in 10 matches against the Blues and only finished on the winning side twice in that time. It even took him five matches to score at Stamford Bridge.

Robert Lewandowski vs Bayer Leverkusen - 5 goals in 18 matches

Robert Lewandowski has been scoring goals for fun this season. He has a record better than a goal per game, with 19 goals in 17 league appearances. No player has scored more in Europe's top 5 leagues this season and he has reached at least 20 goals in seven of the last eight league seasons. He started this campaign by scoring in 11 straight league games. He has only failed to score in four league games all season and one of those was against Bayer Leverkusen, against whom he has a very standard record. Since joining Bayern Munich in 2014, Lewandowski has only scored in one of eight league encounters with Leverkusen and his record overall is five in 18.

Karim Benzema vs Atletico Madrid - 4 goals in 33 matches

Up until this season, Karim Benzema spent most of his Real Madrid career playing to the strengths of Cristiano Ronaldo. Benzema is finally stamping his own mark at Madrid now Ronaldo has left but his record in the Madrid derby is still a lowsy one. Benzema has returned just four goals in 33 matches against their city rivals and has remarkably never scored against them at home. You have to go back to October 2015 to find the last time Benzema scored a league goal against Atletico. It's a record he really needs to improve upon while he remains at the club.

Marcus Rashford vs Everton - 0 goals in 9 matches

Marcus Rashford will feel he has vindicated Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's decision to sell Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez in the summer. The 22-year-old is enjoying his best ever campaign in front of goal and there is just under half of the season left to improve on his current tally of 17 in all competitions, four more than his previous best. However, Rashford may not pencil in fixtures against Everton as one where he will be among the goals. He has never scored against the Toffees in nine previous encounters. Despite finishing on the winning side five times in that spell, he has not yet contributed with a goal. In fact, he has only tested the goalkeeper with six of his 18 attempts in those matches and never recorded a WhoScored rating above 7.00.

Antoine Griezmann vs Villarreal - 2 goals in 19 matches

Perhaps all Antoine Griezmann needed was a different club after scoring against Villarreal at the first attempt with Barcelona but his record in general agains the Yellow Submarines is poor. The 2018 World Cup winner has returned just two goals in 19 matches against Villarreal in his career and has actually been booked more times against them (3) than he has found the back of the net. It was actually on his 16th appearance against Villarreal that he opened his account. Two goals in his last three games at least suggests it's not so much of a problem.

Neymar vs Valencia - 0 goals in 8 matches

Neymar has been heavily linked with a return to Barcelona and reportedly regrets engineering a move away from the Spanish giants in the first place. The Brazilian perhaps doesn't miss matches against Valencia, against whom he has never scored and has even missed a penalty. His performances against Los Che have actually been very good, illustrated by a WhoScored rating of 7.91 in those games, but Valencia are one of just two Spanish teams he failed to score against during his time at Barcelona.

Mohamed Salah vs Manchester United - 0 goals in 4 matches

Admittedly it's the smallest sample range of those in the top 10 but it's interesting nonetheless that Mohamed Salah has never scored against Manchester United. Salah has been a revelation since joining Liverpool and scored against 22 of the 25 different Premier League opponents he's faced in that time. He has, however, not netted against the Red Devils and has only won one game against Liverpool's arch-rivals. In those four previous encounters he has only hit the target once. His striker partners do not fare much better, in fairness. Roberto Firmino has one goal in 11 matches against United and Sadio Mane has only netted once at eight attempts.

Timo Werner vs Augsburg - 2 goals in 13 matches

Timo Werner's goalscoring form has flown slightly under the radar this season due to Robert Lewandowski's own record but clubs across Europe are still taking notice. The Germany international has 18 goals in 17 league matches this season, already more than he managed across the whole of last season. Despite scoring at a rate better than a goal-per-game, Werner did not score agains his bogey team, Augsburg, in his last outing. The 23-year-old has now only scored two goals in 13 appearances against Augsburg, only winning four times in that spell.

Harry Kane vs Manchester United - 2 goals in 12 matches

Harry Kane has previously been linked with a move to Manchester United and former captain Roy Keane once said it should be a no brainer for his old club to snap up England's captain. United's assessment of the striker won't be down to his performances against them, however, with just two goals in 12 matches against the Red Devils. There is, however, no doubting Kane's ability as one of the best goalscorers in the world, as he has proven season after season. Furthermore, the 26-year-old doesn't like playing against Manchester clubs in general, with a record of two goals in 10 appearances against City.

Edin Dzeko vs Lazio - 2 goals in 11 matches

There are certainly ways footballers can become instant heros and one of those is scoring against your club's biggest rivals. Edin Dzeko did exactly that, scoring against Lazio in his first Derby della Capitale back in 2015. The Bosnian striker actually scored home and away against Lazio in his first season at Roma but that is as far as Dzeko's record against the Biancocelesti extends. Dzeko has now failed to score in nine games in a row against Lazio making them by far the least favourite opponent of his career.