Dudelange proud to be better than Barcelona

Since UEFA.com published a survey of Europe's top scoring sides this season, FC Barcelona have stepped up a gear, edging past Welsh club Bangor City FC to join The New Saints FC in second place in the rankings.

However, they have a way to go if they are to match the free-scoring power of Luxembourg's F91 Dudelange, who will resume their league campaign after the winter break at FC Jeunesse Canach on 26 February. Already 16 points clear at the top of the First Division, their goal average of 3.66 per game makes Barcelona's 3.2 look pretty puny.

Having won their first 11 matches of the season, Dudelange surprisingly lost 1-0 at CS Pétange on 30 October. Yet that defeat served only to inspire the team that have lifted eight of the last 11 Luxembourger titles. In their final three matches of the autumn, 4-2 and 3-0 victories sandwiched a fearsome 15-0 success against FC Wiltz 71 on 21 November.

Five of those goals – half his tally for the season – went to Polish striker Tomasz Gruszczyński, while Daniel da Mota scored four, making him the league's 12-goal top marksman at the winter break. "Those five goals meant a lot to me, but we proved again that we are a well-oiled machine," explained Gruszczyński.

That collective mentality has been crucial to Dudelange, who are still smarting after their five-year monopoly of the Division Nationale championship was broken by AS Jeunesse Esch last term. "We are playing as a team, which we didn't do last season," said 22-year-old midfielder Ben Payal, who is being watched by several German clubs. "We have a lot of quality in our ranks."

It would take a slump of biblical proportions for Dudelange to let UN Käerjéng 97 or FC Differdange 03 into the title race, yet after the mauling of Wiltz, Gruszczyński was quick to say: "I want to warn about the risk of becoming arrogant. There are big challenges ahead for us."

Payal agreed: "Actually, we are the biggest danger to ourselves – we are the only side that can hurt us if we start taking things for granted. We have to treat every match with the right focus and cannot start thinking there will be easy games. However, if we don't do anything stupid, it will be impossible to deny us the title."

• Europe's top scoring teams of 2010/11:

1) F91 Dudelange – 55 goals in 15 games – avg: 3.66
=2) FC Barcelona – 64 goals in 20 games – avg: 3.20
=2) The New Saints FC – 64 goals in 20 games – avg: 3.2
4) Bangor City FC – 63 goals in 22 games – avg: 2.86
5) PSV Eindhoven – 56 goals in 20 games – avg: 2.80
6) FK Partizan – 41 goals in 15 games – avg: 2.73
7) FC København - 50 goals in 19 games - avg:2.63
8) FC Viktoria Plzeň - 43 goals in 17 games - avg: 2.53