The UEFA Champions League has produced some sensational matches ever since it’s formation in the 1992/93 season. Winning the Champions League remains the ultimate club honour – and most of football’s greatest goalscorers have played a part in the tournament during its long history.
Real Madrid have been the most successful team in the history of Europe’s elite club competition. Los Blancos have won the European Cup or Champions League on 14 occasions.
The Champions League has featured some of the best goal scorers in history. As the premier club competition in Europe and arguably the world, it is a stage that has been graced by countless icons of football. These players though have taken scoring to a whole new level in the UCL, and are the top scorers in the history of the competition.
Cristiano Ronaldo – 140 goals
Cristiano Ronaldo is the Champions League all-time top scorer, one of only two players in history to astonishingly score more than 100 goals in the competition. The Al Nassr forward leads the way, having scored 140 goals in the competition during his illustrious career, which has seen him bag goals for Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus in Champions League play.
Of course, he will not be adding to that tally for now, after his recent transfer to Saudi Arabia giants Al Nassr, but Ronaldo’s records suggest this might not be broken any time soon.
Lionel Messi – 129 goals
Lionel Messi left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2021 having scored 120 goals for the Spanish club in the Champions League, and is the only player to have scored in 16 successive campaigns in Europe’s top club competition for the same team.
The Argentinian joined Barcelona in early 2001 when he was just 13, and stuck with the team for the next 20 years, winning the Champions League four times in addition to ten Liga titles, seven editions of the Copa del Rey and three UEFA Super Cups.
Robert Lewandowski – 91 goals
Lewandowski is third having found the net on 91 occasions. The Poland international became the first player to score a hat-trick for three different teams in the competition – Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
After coming close on many occasions, Lewandowski’s consistency and patience bore fruit as he finally got his hands on the biggest prize in club football when Bayern won the Champions League in the 2019/20 season. That silverware thereby completed the second treble in Bayern’s history, becoming only the second club after FC Barcelona to do so.
Karim Benzema – 89 goals
Karim Benzema is next, having risen up the list thanks to his incredible 2021/22 season. Benzema has enjoyed a very fruitful career at the Spanish capital, especially in the Champions League.
Scoring 89 goals across spells at Lyon and now Real Madrid, he has won four Champions League trophies, including the hat-trick of titles with Real between 2015 to 2018.
Raul – 71 goals
The Real Madrid youth product remains the highest goalscorer among non-active players. He scored 71 goals in 142 games in the competition, with the majority of them coming for Real Madrid (66). For his efforts, Raul lifted the Champions League title on three occasions, all with Los Blancos.
Raul was also the first footballer to make 100 appearances in the UEFA Champions League.