Getty/GOAL compositeUEFA Champions LeagueCristiano RonaldoBarcelonaL. MessiStatsManchester UnitedPSGR. LewandowskiK. Benzema.
Who is in the lead in the race to become the all-time top scorer in Europe’s leading club competition? We’ve taken a look at the top finishers.
The Champions League has featured some of the best goalscorers 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.
Striking sensations such as Raul and Andriy Shevchenko dominated during the 1990s and 2000s, while Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have taken the art of scoring to a whole new level.
GOAL takes a look at the all-time top scorers in the competition’s history, dating back to the inaugural European Cup in 1955.
Article continues belowWho is the all-time Champions League top scorer?
As you can see from our table below, Cristiano Ronaldo is the top scorer in the history of the Champions League (including the European Cup). He is closely followed by his arch-rival, Lionel Messi.
There is a significant gulf between that pair and the rest, Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski following in third.
Karim Benzema follows in fourth, while Raul completes the top five, with the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Thomas Muller and Thierry Henry among the best of the rest.
List of Champions League/European Cup all-time top 20 goalscorers
Cristiano Ronaldo
140
183
2
Lionel Messi
129
162
3
Robert Lewandowski
91
111
4
Karim Benzema
86
146
5
Raul
71
142
6
Ruud van Nistelrooy
56
73
7
Thomas Muller
53
139
8
Thierry Henry
50
112
9
Alfredo Di Stefano
49
58
=10
Andriy Shevchenko
48
100
=10
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
48
124
12
Eusebio
46
65
=12
Filippo Inzaghi
46
81
14
Didier Drogba
44
92
=14
Mohamed Salah
44
77
16
Neymar
43
81
17
Alessandro Del Piero
42
89
18
Sergio Aguero
41
79
19
Kylian Mbappe
40
60
20
Ferenc Puskas
36
41
*Correct as of games played on November 1st, 2022**The list takes into consideration data from 1955-present***Players in bold are still active
The composition of the all-time goalscorers list is mostly made up of players who are playing or played in the modern Champions League era (i.e. 1992 onwards) which has added more continental games to the modern day calendar. Specifically, of the 20 players in the list above, 17 of them played from the mid 1990s on.
However, despite that, two players who played in the pre-Champions League era (when the tournament was known as the European Cup) still figure prominently, with former Real Madrid star Alfredo Di Stefano and Benfica icon Eusebio featuring in and around the top 10.
Ferenc Puskas , who shone for Real Madrid in the 1950s and 1960s, is also in the top 20. Former Bayern Munich striker Gerd Muller was in the top 20 before being edged out by Mohamed Salah. Despite being nudged out, no player comes remotely close to Gerd Muller’s phenomenal goals-per-game ratio of 0.95.
Puskas boasted a goal-to-game ratio of 0.85 and Di Stefano’s was 0.84, while Messi’s is currently 0.8, which is undoubtedly the best in the modern era.
source:www.goal.com
