Burak Yilmaz - Most prolific striker in the Champions League groups stages

2012-12-06 05:40:48

Galatasaray striker Burak Yilmaz was the most prolific striker in the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League group stages.

Yilmaz scored six goals in 501 minutes of football in the European competition averaging a goal every 83 minutes. Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo also finished the group stages with six goals however, played a total of 540 minutes, averaging a goal every 90 minutes.

The 27-year-old striker has one of the highest shots to goal ratio in the competition having scored six out of the 24 shots he has taken giving him a conversion rate of 24 per-cent.

Yilmaz also broke the Turkish Champions League goal scoring record previously held by Tuncay Şanlı and Hakan Şükür both of whom had five goals in a single campaign.

The Turkish international striker was signed for just €5 million from Trabzonspor this summer. Yilmaz has already made a return on his investment and is being personally attributed with making close to €7 million for the club.

Yilmaz equalised against Cluj, kept Galatasaray's qualification hopes alive and helped take home €500,000 in prize money.

The prolific strikers hattrick against Cluj in the following game made the Lions €1 million, the winning goal against Manchester United also made the club another €1 million and his goal against Braga in the final game also helped towards making the Istanbul side another €1 million in prize money.

Yilmaz scored six out of Galatasaray's seven goals, his contributions played a key role in the Lions qualifying for Round of 16 which will give the club a €3.5 windfall.

The 27-year-old striker has been recognised for his achievements by UEFA, the European football body have nominated Yilmaz as a candidate for their Team of the Year award.

Yilmaz was also awarded with a Man of the Match award for his performance against Braga yesterday. The Turkish international striker spoke to reporters following the Lions 2-1 victory over Braga which ensure qualification into the next round.

Yilmaz said, "We didn't start well in the first half. Afterwards, when we heard the latest score [between Manchester United and CFR Cluj] we understood that we needed to change our attitude if we wanted to qualify.

"It's when our coach is quiet we know we've done something wrong. When he is like that we all understand and he doesn't need to say too much.

"We understand just by the way he looks at us. From that point we managed to turn things around and thankfully we won the three points that got us through, which we deserved.

"My best memory from the group stage was our game at home against Manchester United.

"There was a great atmosphere inside the stadium and I managed to score [the winning goal]; I will never forget that. "I don't have a target to be the top scorer in the tournament. The most important thing for me is that I help my team to score goals.

"Our main aim was to qualify for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League and we have done that."

Yilmaz is the reigning Turkish Goal King, breaking Trabzonspor's all time scoring record in the league last season, scoring 35 times, 51 per-cent of Trabzonspor's 65 goals.