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Ibrahimovic, Ronaldo, Messi lead the way among soccer's prolific older players getting it done in top leagues

Serie A's top scorer, with 16 goals, is Cristiano Ronaldo, who turned 36 last week. Just behind him, you'll find a trio of players on 14: Romelu Lukaku, 27 years old, is the baby of the three, Ciro Immobile is 30 and Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a venerable 39 years old.

Ordinarily, this is when you'd cue up jokes about Serie A as a retirement league, a place where aging poachers keep banging in goals, aided by the supposedly slower tempo and the equally geriatric defenders. It's a stereotype -- and a lazy one at that -- but it's based on the fact that in the past decade the league's scoring charts have been topped by a 33-year-old Antonio Di Natale, a 38-year-old Luca Toni, a 31-year-old Edin Dzeko and a 36-year-old Fabio Quagliarella.