Real Madrid are Europe's quickest starters with early goals scored
Real Madrid and fellow La Liga side Villarreal have scored the most goals within the first 15 minutes of matches in Europe's top five leagues in the 2020/21 campaign.
The Spanish sides have tallied up more early goals than every other team in La Liga, the Premier League, Serie A, Ligue 1, and the Bundesliga.
Real Madrid have played 21 times in the league so far, while Villarreal have played one more on 22, but both have managed to find the back of the net nine times within the first 15 minutes of matches to put their opposition on the back foot.
The reigning champions in Spain may be struggling this season down in third in La Liga, off the pace of leaders Atletico Madrid, but Zinedine Zidane's men can't be accused of taking too long to get into games, as proven by their record of scoring early.
Which team scores the most late goals?
Real Madrid and Villarreal lead the standings on nine goals each.
There are six teams within Europe's top five leagues that are just behind, having scored on eight occasions within the first 15 minutes - Tottenham, Aston Villa, Leverkusen, Union Berlin, Roma and Lazio.
Goals within the first 15 minutes in Europe's Big 5 Leagues
| Club | Goals |
| Real Madrid | 9 |
| Villarreal | 9 |
| Tottenham | 8 |
| Aston Villa | 8 |
| Leverkusen | 8 |
| Union Berlin | 8 |
| Roma | 8 |
| Lazio | 8 |
| Man City | 7 |
| Crystal Palace | 7 |
| Sevilla | 7 |
| Monaco | 7 |
| Reims | 7 |
| Freiburg | 7 |
There are a flurry of teams who have scored within the first 15 minutes seven times in their respective leagues - Man City, Crystal Palace, Sevilla, Monaco, Reims and Freiburg.
The league with the least successful sides at scoring early on is Ligue 1, as they have no teams that can match the leading tallies of eight and nine so far.
The highest is seven, which has been scored by Monaco and Reims.
FootballCritic previously looked at which clubs scored the most goals in injury time within the top five leagues, which you can read here