Champions League Top Scorers
Who are the athletes that have achieved the highest number of goals in the Champions League throughout its history? Let's take a look at the list of the leading goal-scorers in the UEFA Champions League of all time.
Top UEFA Champions League Scorers
The blog mentions the top goal-scorers in football as of now. Cristiano Ronaldo stands at the top with a total of 140 goals followed by Lionel Messi with 129 goals. Robert Lewandowski, Karim Benzema and Raúl occupy the next spots with 94, 90 and 71 goals respectively. Further down the list, we have some well-known names like Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mohamed Salah with a total of 50, 48 and 44 goals respectively. The blog also includes some relatively new forwards like Erling Haaland with 41 goals. Overall, the list represents some of the top football players who have left their mark on the game through their impressive goal-scoring abilities.
The total number of goals does not include the qualifiers for the UEFA Champions League.
In 3 Seasons For Real Madrid "Cristiano Ronaldo's Record-Breaking 140 Goals In 3 Seasons At Real Madrid"
Cristiano Ronaldo has achieved a remarkable feat by being the top scorer in the UEFA Champions League with an impressive tally of 140 goals.
Given that the Portuguese is currently playing for the Saudi Arabian team, Al Nassr, it's doubtful that he will increase his scoring record, which he achieved during his time at Manchester United (21), Real Madrid (105), and Juventus (14).
Ronaldo is the current holder of the record for scoring the highest number of goals within a single season in the Champions League. He scored a total of 17 goals while playing for Real Madrid during the 2013-14 UCL season. This led to his team's victorious win over Atlético Madrid in the final game that year. He also performed exceptionally well in the 2015-2016 season, netting a grand total of 16 goals.
The famed Portuguese player has obtained the prize of being the most successful scorer in the competition seven times, a remarkable feat that remains unprecedented in both the European Cup and Champions League eras.
He managed to score in an unbelievable 93 UCL matches, which makes up 51% of the times he appeared in the competition. In eight of those matches, he even achieved a hat-trick - an achievement that he shares with Lionel Messi, no less.
During his Champions League career, Ronaldo managed to score against 38 different rivals. He broke a record by netting a total of 10 goals against Juventus, which makes him the player with the most goals against a single opponent in the history of the competition.
Messi Scores 129 Goals
Lionel Messi has shown his excellent skills as he has scored a total of 129 goals, making him the second highest scorer in the history of UEFA Champions League. It's worth noting that he has achieved the most number of goals scored for a single club in the history of UCL. Out of his remarkable tally, a huge chunk of 120 goals was earned during his stay at Barcelona.
Following his transfer to the prominent French football team Paris Saint-Germain during the summer of 2021, he was able to increase his total number of goals by nine. However, now that he has moved on to the MLS team Inter Miami, it seems improbable that he will ever be able to add to his impressive record of 129 goals.
Messi holds the achievement of scoring against 40 distinct rivals in the UEFA Champions League, surpassing Ronaldo’s accomplishment of 38. Among these rivals, he has scored a total of nine times against Arsenal, which accounts for 7% of his total goals in the competition. This makes Arsenal his most favoured opponent in the history of UCL games.
In general, Messi, who won the 2022 World Cup, has scored goals in 18 distinct seasons of UCL games. He has managed to score in every single season since 2005-06, except during his first season with Barcelona in 2004-05 where he failed to score. Karim Benzema also holds the same record as Messi, but he has been able to score in all 18 UCL seasons he has played in since 2005-06.
Although he and Cristiano Ronaldo both hold the UCL record for the most hat-tricks in the competition, there is one achievement that sets him apart. He scored five goals in a single Champions League match - something Ronaldo never accomplished. He achieved this impressive feat during Barcelona's 7-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in March 2012, during his record-breaking 2011-2012 season where he scored a remarkable 73 goals in 60 competitive club appearances.
Scored In One Year
Robert Lewandowski is approaching 100 goals in the UEFA Champions League, but the Barcelona player is still seven goals short and is now 35 years old. This means he might not have enough time to reach the milestone.
In the year 2022-23, he put forth his utmost effort and managed to score five goals in five matches while playing for Barcelona. However, the team's performance led to their exit from the group stages of the UEFA Champions League, which resulted in Lewandowski having a longer break between games than he is accustomed to. In the current season, 2023-24, he has already scored three goals. He delivered a triumphant performance against Antwerp during the opening match of the campaign and continued his success in both legs of the last-16 game against Napoli.
Out of his total of 94 goals in UCL, 69 of them were scored while playing for Bayern Munich following his transfer from Borussia Dortmund.
He's got the most quantity of goals scored in Europe for Bayern, ahead of Gerd Müller (65). Moreover, he holds the record for the maximum number of goals done by a player in the history of Bundesliga club in a single season during the competition. He achieved this in style with his 15 strikes in 2019-20 and assisted Bayern to secure the victory. What's more, he made history for himself by being the first Polish player who topped the scoring charts in a single UCL/European Cup season.
Scored For Real Madrid
Karim Benzema's possible transfer to Saudi Arabian team Al-Ittihad could signal the end of his career.
Benzema has managed to score in every single UCL season since 2005-06 when he used to play for Lyon and has the most number of successful seasons without failing to score a goal.
In the 2021-22 season, the skilled striker hailing from France claimed the top scorer accolade for the prestigious Champions League tournament. This served as his initial triumph, scoring 15 goals and aiding Real Madrid in their championship win. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to score in the final game against Liverpool in Paris.
He has scored a total of 78 goals for Real Madrid in this tournament, putting him in second place with Cristiano Ronaldo holding the top spot with 105 goals.
Raúl, who used to play for Spain, has scored 66 goals in the UEFA Champions League for Real Madrid, making him their third most successful scorer in that competition. Overall, he has scored 71 goals in the Champions League, which is the fifth highest total of any player in the tournament.
Before November 2014, Raúl was the leading scorer in the competition. However, he was later surpassed by Messi and Ronaldo. Nonetheless, back in September 2005, the esteemed Real Madrid player achieved the milestone of being the first player to score 50 goals in the competition. This was a significant achievement for the team, as prior to this, Alfredo Di Stéfano held the record for the most goals scored for the club in European competition, with 49 goals.
In the 2010-11 season, he played for FC Schalke 04 in Germany for the last time. He was 33 years old then and managed to score five times. By the end of his career, he had scored a total of 71 goals in the competition. This number is more than twice as much as the next best Spanish player, Fernando Morientes, who scored 33 goals.
"Top Scorers: 50+ UCL Goals From Different Players"
Ruud Van Nistelrooy: Scoring 56 Goals
Ruud van Nistelrooy, a footballer from the Netherlands, managed to score a total of 56 goals throughout his time in the UEFA Champions League. If he had played in more matches earlier in his career, that number could have been even higher. However, before he turned 25 and made his debut for Manchester United in the competition, he only appeared in 11 games for PSV.
Van Nistelrooy holds the record for being the fastest player to score 50 UEFA Champions League goals, which he achieved in just 62 appearances. However, he had already turned 31 years old by the time he set this record.
He managed to get 35 goals in the Champions League while playing for Manchester United, which is currently the topmost in the club's history. This is more than Wayne Rooney's 30 and Ryan Giggs' 28.
Van Nistelrooy is the highest goal-scoring athlete who hasn't yet clinched a victory in the UEFA Champions League. He took part in 11 seasons and belonged to teams that have won the award altogether for 10 times.
Müller's 53 Goal Record
Thomas Müller has recently marked his 15th season playing in the Champions League, representing Bayern Munich. Impressively, he has managed to score during 14 of these seasons, with only one season (2018-19) being an exception where he did not score.
Ever since he started competing in 2008-09, he has managed to score 53 goals and provide 23 assists. His number of goals is twice as much as any other German player in the competition, with Mario Gomez coming in second with only 26 goals.
He has been victorious in the Champions League twice while playing for Bayern Munich, during the 2012-2013 and 2019-2020 seasons.
By A Legend
Thierry Henry netted 50 times in the UEFA Champions League while being part of three different teams: Arsenal (with 35 goals), Barcelona (contributing eight goals), and Monaco (scoring seven times).
Starting off his career at UCL, he made a grand entrance with an astounding six goals in his first five games at Monaco while he was only 20. Afterwards, he transferred to Arsenal for the 1999-00 season. At Arsenal, he accomplished 35 goals, putting him in the record books as their top-scoring player in Champions League/European Cup history.
Can Haaland And Mbappé Surpass Champions League Goal Record?
As all the footballers who have managed to score more than 50 goals in the UEFA Champions League are either retired or getting close to retiring, people are wondering who the next players will be to surpass these scoring records in the future.
It's highly likely that Kylian Mbappé will hit the 50-goal milestone in the upcoming competition. He currently has 48 goals in the UCL after an outstanding season in 2023-24, playing for PSG and France. Now only two goals away from the big five-o, almost everyone believes that he will achieve this feat this season, especially with PSG advancing to the semi-finals.
Mbappé's rapid ascent in the rankings may be a cause of concern for Cristiano Ronaldo, who currently holds the top spot.
In the 2022-23 Champions League season, Mbappé was able to score an impressive seven goals in eight games for his team, PSG. Unfortunately, despite his admirable performance, PSG was knocked out of the competition by Bayern Munich during the last 16. Despite this, Mbappé has reached a total of 40 goals in the competition throughout 59 games, accomplishing this feat two games earlier than Messi and Lewandowski, who both took 61 games to reach the same number of goals. Furthermore, Mbappé accomplished this accomplishment in only 82 games, which is 23 games faster than Ronaldo. Additionally, Mbappé is the youngest player to reach 40 goals in the competition at only 23 years and 316 days old. He has been able to break the previous record, which was held by Messi when he did it at the age of 24 years and 130 days old.
The celebrity from France will keep an eye on the remarkable scorer Erling Haaland from Manchester City.
Haaland has managed to score a stunning total of 41 goals during 39 Champions League matches, and he's still at a young age of 23 years. To make things clearer, he has already been able to match the number of UCL goals which are currently held by the highly regarded City icon, Sergio Agüero, despite playing in 40 fewer games in the tournament.
The Norwegian footballer scored 40 goals in the UEFA Champions League when he was only 23 years and 130 days old. This achievement was accomplished 187 days earlier than when Mbappé reached the same milestone. In addition to this, he attained this record in fewer matches than both the Frenchman and Lionel Messi, with 59 and 61 matches respectively.
In March 2023, during Man City's victory over RB Leipzig in the last-16 of the Champions League, Haaland joined the elite group of footballers who have scored five goals in a single match. This puts him in the company of just three other players who have achieved this noteworthy feat.
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