The Yellows No. 7, with 107 goals, surpasses Adriano García and extends his legendary status
An absolute legend. Gerard Moreno has become the top scorer in the history of Villarreal CF after scoring a goal in the win against RCD Mallorca (0-1). The scoring record held by Adriano García, a legend who played for the Submarine for seven seasons (80s and 90s), now bears the signature of the Catalan striker, who equalled the record of 106 goals scored by the player from Granada last season in the match against Girona (Matchday 35) and has now surpassed it against the Balearic side. That makes a total of 107 goals in 243 games.
A player for the Villarreal history books
Gerard Moreno Balagueró (7 April 1992, Santa Perpètua de Mogoda) joined Villarreal CF in the 2010/11 season from CF Badalona to join the youth academy. In his first year at Miralcamp, the striker scored more than thirty goals for Villarreal C.
His excellent role in the Yellows’ third team was rewarded. Gerard was promoted to Villarreal B and, just one season later, he made his way into the first team, scoring his first goal on 25th January 2013 in a 3-1 win over CE Sabadell.
Between the 2015/16 and 2017/18 seasons, the attacker from Santa Perpetua played for RCD Espanyol, where he grew as a footballer before returning to the Submarine in the 2018/19 season. Since then, Gerard Moreno has been and is a fundamental player in the yellow project.
In the aforementioned 2018/19 campaign Gerard contributed greatly to Villarreal CF remaining a top-flight team with eight goals. A year later, in the 2019/20 season, the yellow striker scored 20 goals of paramount importance for the Yellows side to play in European competition again and which, in turn, made him the top scorer in LALIGA.
However, the high point of Gerard Moreno’s Villarreal career would come a season later. In the magical 2020/21 season in which Villarreal CF won the UEFA Europa League in Gdansk after beating Manchester United, Gerard Moreno again played a pivotal role. The forward scored a total of 30 goals, 23 of which were in LaLiga – he won the Zarra Trophy for the second consecutive season – and seven in the Europa League, scoring in the final, which helped him, among other things, to be the top scorer and, therefore, to be named the best player of the competition.
Gerard prolonged his sweet moment by being called up for Euro 2020 and being one of the candidates for the Ballon d’Or that same season. Today, after overcoming various muscular problems that have kept him sidelined for several stretches of last season, the Yellows No.7 is working to get back to his best and help the team achieve its objectives. Gerard Moreno, yellow legend.
