Aces in attack: The top 5 Champions League goal scorers of all time

The current season has seen the debut of a new format for the UEFA Champions League. Announced some time ago, this campaign has seen the competition ditch its traditional opening round style of group stages in favor of a league table, which includes more teams and more games than it did before.

The new format has certainly had a mixed reception thus far. Many have, understandably, questioned if there was a need to alter the way the Champions League operated. Though still in its infancy, the new-look Champions League has perhaps given smaller sides, teams that usually would not have a prayer of qualifying from the group stage, a chance at progressing further into the competition.

The Champions League has a rich history, both under its current name and when it was known as the European Cup, prior to 1992. With that being said, it bears asking, just which five players are the all-time highest scorers in Champions League history?

5. Raul

Though he spent the last five years of his career with Schalke 04, Al Sadd and New York Cosmos, it was during Raul’s 16-year stint with Real Madrid that he made himself a footballing legend. A Madrid native, the forward made his senior debut for Real in 1994 after two years within their youth set-up.

At his peak, Raul was easily one of the best in the world, finishing as runner-up in the 2001 Ballon d’Or race. With Madrid, he helped them win six La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues, lifting the latter trophy in 1998, 2000 and 2002. During the twilight of his career with Schalke, Raul played one further season in the Champions League, scoring five goals in 12 games despite being well into his 30s.

By the time of Raul’s departure from European football in 2012, the Spanish striker, famed as much for his finishing as he was for his ability to playmake, he had netted 71 goals in 142 Champions League games, a number that, at the time of his retirement, made him the competition’s record scorer.

4. Karim Benzema

Now plying his trade in Saudi Arabia for Al-Ittihad, it felt as though Karim Benzema was long underrated in European football. The man who started his career with Lyon joined Real Madrid in 2009 for what was then a record transfer for any player in French football. 

Benzema would spend 14 years in the Spanish capital where, over the years, he rose to become Real Madrid’s second all-time top scorer and their leading assist maker. An exceptional finisher and passer of the ball, Benzema was a third of the infamous “BBC” attacking trio for Madrid, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, that won three successive Champions League titles in the 2010s.

A French international until his 2021 retirement, Benzema, who won four La Liga titles, lifted the Champions League five times and won the 2022 Ballon d’Or, played in 152 Champions League matches, during which time he scored 90 goals, a number that sees him rank as the fourth-highest scorer in the competition’s history.

3. Robert Lewandowski

One of only three players to have netted over 100 Champions League goals in their career, Robert Lewandowski is, at the time of writing, the only entrant on this list to still be playing within European football. The Polish international plays for Barcelona, who he joined in 2022 after an eight-year stint with Bayern Munich.

Be it with Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund towards the beginning of his career, Lewandowski has long been a consistent source of goals in the Champions League, having reached his current tally of 101 goals in just 126 games across 14 seasons in the competition.

Lewandowski has not only become one of the Champions League’s finest-ever attackers but is also a winner of Europe’s most prestigious competition, having been part of the Bayern team that won it in 2020. He was that year’s top scorer in the Champions League and started the final against Paris Saint-Germain, which the Bavarians won 1-0.

2. Lionel Messi

The top two entrants of this should hardly be of any surprise. The most decorated player in the history of football and a record eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, Lionel Messi represented two teams in the Champions League. Of course, he is rightly far more famed for his time with Barcelona than his time with Paris Saint-Germain.

Messi helped Barca to four Champions League titles, the latest of which came in the 2014-15 season with Messi playing alongside Neymar and Luis Suarez in the legendary “MSN” attacking trio. The Argentine appeared in 163 Champions League matches across his time in Europe, the third-most of any player in history.

In those games, Lionel Messi notched 129 goals, an exceptional return for an exceptional player. Now, Messi plays in the MLS, having joined Inter Miami in 2023 and is a crucial factor in driving up the attention put on America’s top footballing division. It is likely that Messi’s time in European competitions has concluded, but he has undoubtedly carved out an indelible legacy.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

No player in history has scored more official goals in football than Cristiano Ronaldo. As such, it is fitting that the Portuguese is also the Champions League’s record goalscorer. Ronaldo now plays for Al Nassr but spent close to two straight decades competing in Europe’s elite competition, be it with Manchester United, Real Madrid or Juventus.

Across his time with those clubs, Ronaldo, who has won five Ballon d’Ors in his career, scored 140 goals in 183 matches, numbers that mean he is also the man to have made the most Champions League appearances as well as the competition’s top scorer. 

Ronaldo’s first taste of glory in the competition came with Manchester United, when he was part of the team that beat Chelsea in the 2008 final. Throughout his nine years with Real Madrid between 2009 and 2018, Ronaldo won four further Champions League titles, including three successive victories between 2015 and 2018 alongside Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale in a feared attacking triumvirate.