Lionel Messi’s transfer to Inter Miami has put a safety seal around Cristiano Ronaldo’s record for most goals in UEFA Champions League history, a record that feels unlikely to fall any time soon.
But there’s still history being made in the Champions League, as Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe attempt to reach the heights of Messi, Ronaldo, and now the third player to reach 100 or more goals in UCL play — Robert Lewandowski.
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The Borussia Dortmund turned Bayern Munich and now Barcelona star is up to 103 Champions League goals following the conclusion of the league phase.
That puts him 26 behind Messi and 38 back of Ronaldo. At 36, he couldn’t.... could he?
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Champions League all-time goals leaderboard: Haaland, Mbappe, Salah climb
Messi still holds the record for the most goals with a single club, though he seemed destined to catch Ronaldo once the aging forward moved to the Saudi Pro League. Messi is a couple of years younger, and 11 more goals were not a far cry.
Haaland, however, has already entered the competition’s all-time top 15 with 47 goals. And, yes, he’s 24 years old.
Kylian Mbappe is about a year-and-a-half older and both the Frenchman and Liverpool star Mohamed Salah made history on Tuesday, December 11, when each player scored their 50th goal in UCL history.
Mbappe and Salah are the 11th and 12th players to score 50 goals in the competition, and they are tied with Thierry Henry for ninth all-time. Still-active Thomas Muller recently scored his 56th and sits eighth on the all-time leaderboard.
Salah also made history with a fantastic strike against Bologna earlier this season, making him the highest scoring African player in competition history.
Here’s the list of the most goals scored in UEFA Champions League play, excluding qualifying.
European Cup / UEFA Champions League all-time goal scorers
names in bold are active in European football
(UEFA.com)
- Cristiano Ronaldo, 141
- Lionel Messi, 129
- Robert Lewandowski, 103
- Karim Benzema, 90
- Raul, 71
- Ruud van Nistelrooy, 60
- Andriy Shevchenko, 59
- Thomas Muller, 56
- Thierry Henry, 51
- Kylian Mbappe, 51
- Mohamed Salah, 51
- Filippo Inzaghi, 50
- Alfredo Di Stefano, 49
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 49
- Eusebio, 47
- Sergio Aguero, 47
- Erling Haaland, 47
- Didier Drogba, 44
- Neymar, 43
- Alessandro Del Piero, 43
- Antoine Griezmann, 43
- Fernando Morientes, 39
- Ferenc Puskas, 35
- Edinson Cavani, 35
- Harry Kane, 35
- Gerd Muller, 34
- Wayne Rooney, 34
- Samuel Eto’o, 33
- Arjen Robben, 32
- Francisco Gento, 32
- David Trezeguet, 32
