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

Cameron Smith

Updated: 4 Apr 2024 11:59 BST
3 min read

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 14 separate occasions.

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.

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	94	118
4. Karim Benzema	90	152
5. Raul	71	142
6. Ruud van Nistelrooy	56	73
7. Thomas Muller	54	149
8. Thierry Henry	50	112
9. Alfredo di Stefano	49	58
10. Andriy Shevchenko	48	100
= Zlatan Ibrahimovic	48	124
12. Eusebio	46	65
= Kylian Mbappe	46	69
= Filippo Inzaghi	46	81
15. Mohamed Salah	44	74
= Didier Drogba	44	92
17. Neymar	43	81
18. Alessandro Del Piero	42	89
19. Erling Haaland	41	37
= 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 94 Champions League strikes and he will be hoping to reach the 100-goal mark before the end of his career.

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.

Andriy Shevchenko completes the top 10, while several other notable players are included in the top 20. Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland are expected to rise sharply over the next few years and could soon challenge the top five.