Champions League all-time top scorers: Ronaldo, Messi and the greatest goal kings

Champions League all-time top scorers: Ronaldo, Messi and the greatest goal kings

Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi
© IMAGO

The UEFA Champions League is the biggest club competition in football – and most of the sport’s greatest goalscorers have played a part in the tournament during its long history.

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Real Madrid are the most successful team in the history of Europe’s elite club competition, having won the European Cup/Champions League on 115 separate occasions.

READ MORE: World Cup all-time top scorers – Mbappe, Messi and the greatest goal kings

Los Blancos have been aided by having some of the most prolific goalscorers in Champions League history over the years, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Raul and Karim Benzema, while their arch-rivals Barcelona have mainly relied upon the services of Lionel Messi.

Below, FootballTransfers runs through the top goalscorers in Champions League history.

READ MORE: European Championship all-time top scorers: Ronaldo, Griezmann and the greatest goal kings

Which player has the most goals in Champions League history*?

Player Goals Games
1. Cristiano Ronaldo 140 183
2. Lionel Messi 129 163
3. Robert Lewandowski 101 125
4. Karim Benzema 90 152
5. Raul 71 142
6. Ruud van Nistelrooy 56 73
7. Thomas Muller 54 155
8. Thierry Henry 50 112
9. Alfredo di Stefano 49 58
= Kylian Mbappe 49 78
11. Andriy Shevchenko 48 100
= Zlatan Ibrahimovic 48 124
13. Erling Haaland 46 44
= Eusebio 46 65
= Filippo Inzaghi 46 81
16. Mohamed Salah 45 84
17. Didier Drogba 44 92
18. Neymar 43 81
19. Alessandro Del Piero 42 89
20. Sergio Aguero 41 79

*Excluding qualifying.

Ronaldo is the all-time top goalscorer in Champions League history with 140 goals in the competition. He has also netted once in Champions League qualifying, but this goal hasn’t been included.

His long-term nemesis Lionel Messi has the second-highest number of Champions League goals (129), although both players are now unlikely to add to their totals due to the fact Ronaldo plays for Al-Nassr and Messi is at Inter Miami.

Robert Lewandowski is third on the list with 101 Champions League strikes and he is the only other player to hit triple digits in the competition.

Real Madrid legend Karim Benzema has 90 career goals in the Champions League, but he may find it difficult to increase his tally as he is not currently playing in Europe.

Fellow ex-Los Blancos striker Raul is fifth, with 71 goals, and he was the highest-scoring player in Champions League history from 2005 until 2014.

Ruud van Nistlerooy (56), Thomas Muller (54) and Thierry Henry (50) are the final three players with at least a half-century of Champions League goals to their name.

Real Madrid icon Alfredo di Stefano scored 49 goals in just 58 appearances in the European Cup, helping Los Blancos to a record five triumphs in a row in the late 1950s and early 60s. He is the ninth-highest goalscorer in the competition’s history.

Kylian Mbappe has also scored 49 Champions League goals, and is expected to soar up this list over the next few years, while Erling Haaland is in 13th place with 46 goals in the competition.


Source From: Football Transfer News Archive including Premier League & La Liga

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