Footballing glory and its highest scorers are some of the best players in the world. The annual competition features the best European football clubs containing some of the best players in the sport competing against each other.
The Champions League is considered the biggest prize in club football. So many clubs and players make it their perennial ambition to get their hands on the illustrious trophy.
Today, we will take a look at the top 5 highest goal scorers in the league:
5. Raul Gonzalez – 71 goals
The Real Madrid youth product remains the highest goal scorer among non-active players. Raul scored 71 goals in 142 games in the competition, with the majority of them coming for Real Madrid (66). Raul lifted the Champions League title on three occasions, all with Los Blanco's.
Raul was also the first footballer to make 100 appearances in the UEFA Champions League.
4. Karim Benzema – 79 goals
Karim Benzema has arguably been the most consistent performer for Real Madrid over the last few years and has been their saving grace on multiple occasions.
Benzema has enjoyed a very fruitful career in the Spanish capital, especially in the Champions League, scoring 73 goals in 133 games 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.
3. Robert Lewandowski – 85 goals
The highest goal scorer last season, Lewandowski, is in the form of his life. But, the prolific Pole has always been a consistent scorer in the competition and now stands in third place with 78 goals in 99 games.
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 last season and thereby completed the second treble in their history, becoming only the second club after FC Barcelona to do so.
2. Lionel Messi -125 goals
Lionel Messi has to feature in every list of elite goal scorers. The legendary Argentine has put goalscoring records to waste in domestic and continental football and continues to be among the goals.
Lionel Messi has won four Champions League titles, taking Barcelona's tally from one trophy to five in just under a decade. In the process, Messi has notched up an incredible 123 goals in 152 games for Barcelona and PSG at a rate of 0.81 goals/game. His tally is the highest by any player for a single club.
Messi is one of only two players (alongside Luiz Adriano) to have scored five goals in a single match in the Champions League and has scored the joint the greatest number of hat-tricks in the competition (8, tied with Cristiano Ronaldo).
Also Read | Greatest comebacks in UCL
1. Cristiano Ronaldo – 140 goals
When it comes to the UEFA Champions League, no discussion is complete without Cristiano Ronaldo. Portuguese have made it a habit of performing on the big European nights which has, in turn, elevated his status to being arguably the best-ever player in the competition's history. Cristiano Ronaldo has accomplished and broken every record imaginable in the Champions League, most goals (137), most goals in a single season (17), the joint-the greatest number of hat-tricks (8), the first player to score 100 Champions League goals and the first player to scores 100 Champions League goals for a single club (105 – Real Madrid). The list is endless and shows the level that the legendary Portuguese forward possesses when it comes to the biggest competition in club football.
