Rangers' Alfredo Morelos on brink of eclipsing his idol in Europa League charts

Alfredo Morelos has spent much of his life and career looking up in admiration at Radamel Falcao.

As the Rangers striker prepares to try and help the Scottish champions reach the last 16 of the Europa League, he finds himself one goal away from being able to surpass his role model and compatriot in the competition’s all-time list of goalscorers.

Morelos bagged his 27th Europa League goal for Rangers in their remarkable 4-2 win against Borussia Dortmund in Germany last week. Having scored four times for HJK Helsinki in the competition before his £1million move to Glasgow in the summer of 2017, it meant he drew level with Falcao’s tally of 31 goals during his double-Europa League winning spells with Porto and Atletico Madrid.

If Morelos finds the net in the second leg of Rangers’ knockout round play-off tie against Dortmund at Ibrox on Thursday night, he will be out on his own as the all-time leading scorer in the tournament since it was rebranded as the Europa League in the 2009-10 season.

Colombian striker Radamel Falcao celebrates winning the Europa League Final with Atletico Madrid in Bucharest in 2012. (Photo by Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP/GettyImages)

Only two players have scored more goals than Morelos in the competition since it was founded in 1971 as the UEFA Cup, replacing the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup which was not formally organised by UEFA.

Leading the way is legendary former Celtic striker Henrik Larsson who scored 40 UEFA Cup goals across his career with Feyenoord, Helsingborg and the Parkhead club.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, the former Dutch international striker, is second on the list with 34 goals in the tournament for Ajax and Schalke 04.

Morelos currently shares third place in the overall rankings with Falcao and the former Valencia and Athletic Bilbao forward Aritz Aduriz.

Alfredo Morelos celebrates after scoring against Porto at Ibrox in November 2019, one of his 27 Europa League goals for Rangers so far. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Eclipsing Falcao would be a huge moment for Morelos who grew up idolising the man regarded by many as Colombia’s greatest ever player.

Now 36 and with Rayo Vallecano in Spain, Falcao is his country’s all-time leading scorer with 35 goals and is just one appearance short of winning 100 caps.

He has become a mentor for Morelos since the Rangers striker first broke into the national squad four years ago.

While Morelos has yet to establish himself as a regular with Colombia, not even being named among the subs when he joined the squad for their World Cup qualifiers last month, his performances on the European stage for Rangers continue to enhance his reputation.

He scored his first Europa League goal for the Ibrox side in a 1-0 win away to Croatian team Osijek in a second qualifying round tie in 2018 and has thrived in the competition ever since.

Morelos was especially prolific in the 2019-20 season, scoring 14 times as Rangers reached the last 16 for the first time under Steven Gerrard.

He grabbed five goals last season as they repeated that achievement and is now on the same tally in the current campaign as Giovanni van Bronckhorst attempts to oversee a third consecutive appearance in the last 16.

UEFA Cup/Europa League all-time leading scorers

40 Henrik Larsson (Feyenoord, Celtic, Helsingborg)

34 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Heerenveen, Ajax, Schalke 04)

31 Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Bilbao)

31 Radamel Falcao (Porto, Atletico Madrid)

31 Alfredo Morelos (HJK Helsinki, Rangers)

29 Dieter Müller (Cologne, VfB Stuttgart, Bordeaux)

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