When Romelu Lukaku broke his promise to Inter fans and left for Chelsea this summer, the Italian club made what was deemed a salvage signing by getting Edin Dzeko. The 35-year-old has surprised all, possibly even Nerazzurri's recruitment team, by being one of the best stories of the 2021/2022 season.
In Inter's Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk, the Bosnian international scored a brace to place the club on the brink of a knockout round qualification.
Scoring in the 61st after a conundrum in the Shatkhar box with a powerful shot, and in the 67th with a close-range header, Dzeko scored his 49th and then 50th goal in European competition.
Perfectly divided into 25 goals in the Europa League and 25 in the Champions League. Hence, Dzeko became a part of the elite club of players who scored 50 continental goals. He dethroned Real Madrid's legend Alfredo di Stefano to enter the top 20 of top goalscorers list in European competitions.
Now, the Bosnian is level with Didier Drogba, who played 10 games fewer than Dzeko, 112 compared to 102. Dzeko's next targets on the list are Jupp Heynckes (51), Allesandro del Piero (53), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Edinson Cavani (55), Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eusebio (57), Thierry Henry and Henrik Larsson (59). Dzeko could realistically, in an attacking team of Simone Inzaghi, pass even Ruud van Nistelrooy at 62 and Sergio Aguero at 63, at the 10th and 9th spot respectfully, if he continues in a similar fashion.
He has one more group game left against Real Madrid though, and potentially at least two knockout round games.
"Inter signed me to score goals and I'm trying to make my contribution. The first half it seemed as if the goal was cursed, the ball just didn’t want to go in, we had two goals disallowed. In the first half we made a lot of mistakes, but their goalkeeper was also good. You have to be patient, without conceding a goal, and then in the second half we finally managed to score two," stated Dzeko.
Dzeko has been consistently one of the most underrated strikers in the game, and already has 10 goals and three assists in 18 games for his new club.
Overall he has 302 goals and 135 assists in 655 games and has scored 50+ goals in the Premier League (50), Bundesliga (66), and Serie A (92).
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