Rubén Castro, all-time ‘pichichi’ of the Second Division
Following his goal in #LugoMálaga, the Málaga CF striker is now the best scorer in the history of the silver division with 195 goals.
Rubén broke the tie with his great statistical rival, Almería-born Nino, with whom he shared the top spot until yesterday in number of goals in what is now called Liga SmartBank. The striker's 10th goal this 22/23 season make him the top Malaguista scorer and top 5 in the category tied with Higinio (Albacete).
In 10 of his 11 seasons in Segunda, Rubén has reached double figures with a dozen or more goals. Only in his first season in the silver division, at 21 years old in Las Palmas (02/03), he scored nine. The following 04/03 season, at Unión Deportiva, he won his first Pichichi Trophy with 22 goals.
Since that season, Castro didn’t play in the Second Division again until 09/08, where he scored 13 goals with SD Huesca. In 09/10 he scored 14 with Rayo Vallecano and in 10/11 he netted 27 with Real Betis Balompié, moving up to the First Division. In the ranks of the Heliopolitan outfit, the number '24' returned to the Second Division in 14/15 in a big way. 31 goals, the second 'Pichichi' and promotion to the elite with the Verdiblancos as league champion.
In the four seasons prior to this one, Rubén Castro maintained his high goalscoring performance, scoring 30 goals (15 and 15) in two years at UD Las Palmas, and 39 goals (19 and 20) in another two seasons at FC Cartagena. In other words, 69 goals in an age range that ranged from 37 to 40 years. An extraordinary example of longevity and efficiency.
Rubén Castro leads the table of all-time scorers in the Second Division with 195 goals in 430 games, one goal more than Nino (194 in 571 games). The podium is completed by Abel Fernández, a late Madrid striker who has a record of 155 goals.
One more milestone in a campaign full of individual records for Málaga CF's 'killer' from the Canary Islands. Congratulations Ruben!
