All-time top scorers in the Champions League
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski or Karim Benzema. Who is the Champions League's all-time top scorer?
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski or Karim Benzema. Who is the Champions League's all-time top scorer?
The Champions League is the biggest club competition, so the biggest and best players are expected to play in it.
Since the competition rebranded in 1992, the Champions League has witnessed some of the greatest strikers of all time.
But who amongst these great players sits at the top of the all-time top scorers charts? We take a look at the top ten in this piece.
10. Erling Haaland- 49 goals
By the time he finishes his career, Haaland might as well be the top of the list. But right now, he sits in the tenth position, which is impressive considering he has only played just 48 games in the competition so far.
Haaland has scored 49 goals in 48 games in the Champions League, averaging 1.02 goals per match.
He has been prolific for all three clubs he has played for so far. Haaland scored eight goals in 6 games for RB Salzburg, 15 in 13 for Borussia Dortmund, and 26 in 29 for Man City, currently.
9. Thierry Henry- 50 goals
Sitting in ninth place is Arsenal legend Thierry Henry with 50 goals. Henry scored half a century of goals in 112 Champions League games.
The World Cup winner started his Champions League career at Monaco, where he scored seven goals in nine games.
However, his best spell was at Arsenal, where he scored 35 goals in 77 appearances in the Champions League. After leaving Arsenal, Henry joined Barcelona, winning the competition under Pep Guardiola. However, he scored just eight goals in 26 games for the Catalan giants.
8. Kylian Mbappe- 55 goals
Like Haaland, Mbappe might also end up at the top if he ends up scoring at this rate. The Real Madrid star has scored 55 goals in 87 games. He is averaging 0.64 games since making his debut in the competition in 2016.
The majority of Mbappe’s goals in this competition came in the colours of Paris Saint-Germain (42/64).
However, his first six came in the colours of Monaco. Mbappe is currently at Real Madrid, and he has scored seven goals in 14 Champions League games for Los Blancos so far.
7. Ruud Van Nistelrooy- 56 goals
Nistelrooy is one of the best strikers the beautiful game has produced, and his numbers in the Champions League prove that.
The Leicester manager scored 56 goals in 73 games in the competition, averaging 0.77 goals per game. He played for three clubs in the competition, scoring eight goals for PSV, 35 for Man Utd and 13 for Real Madrid.
6. Thomas Muller- 57 goals
He might not be as flashy or pleasing to watch as the other players on the list, but Muller is one of the most underrated players of the generation.
The German is not a typical number nine, but he still managed to score 59 goals in 163 Champions League games for Bayern Munich.
5. Raul- 71 goals
For a very long time, Raul held on to the top spot. But he has now dropped to fifth and will most definitely drop in the next few years.
Nonetheless, he remains one of the best strikers to play in the Champions League after scoring 71 goals. Raul scored a bulk of his goals for Real Madrid (66), although he also scored five in the colours of Schalke 04.
4. Karim Benzema
Given that Real Madrid have won the competition 15 times, it is no surprise to see their players dominate this list.
Benzema is another player who scored a bulk of his goals in the Champions League with Los Blancos.
The Al-Ittihad man broke out at Lyon, scoring 12 goals in 19 Champions League games before moving to Real.
Although he was not clinical enough in his first few years at Real, Benzema left Spain as Los Blancos’ second all-time top scorer in the Champions League with 78 goals.
3. Robert Lewandowski
Depending on how long he plays at the top level, Lewandowski could go on to take the number one spot. The Polish striker is arguably the best number 9 the Champions League has ever seen.
Lewandowski currently has 105 goals in 132 games in the competition, and he is still playing with Barcelona.
His peak years were in Germany, where he scored 69 and 17 goals for Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, respectively.
He has scored 19 goals for Barcelona in the competition so far, but can still improve on that number this season as the Catalan giants are still in the Champions League.
2. Lionel Messi- 129 goals
In second place is arguably the greatest player to play the game. Messi and his rival, whom we will come to later, raised the bar in the Champions League.
The Barcelona legend is one of two players to first reach a century of goals in the competition’s history. Messi is also one of two players to score eight hat-tricks in the competition.
He has 129 goals in the competition, with 120 coming in the colours of Barcelona and nine in PSG’s colours.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo- 140 goals
Mr Champions League himself sits at the top of the throne. No player has dominated a competition like Ronaldo did in the Champions League.
Although he is not currently playing in the competition, his record haul of 140 goals in 183 games remains the number to beat.
This is even impressive considering, he scored just 21 goals in his first 59 games in the competition and did not score his first goal in the competition until his 27th appearance, when he was still at Manchester United.
Ronaldo’s peak years were at Real Madrid, where he scored 105 goals in 101 games in the competition. He also scored another 14 goals for Juventus.
