These Players Have Had Unforgettable Careers In Europe

The UEFA Champions League is one of the most hotly contested tournaments in the whole of world soccer. The competition has been running since 1995 and has been known as the UEFA Champions League since 1992.  

It pits the winning teams from multiple countries across the continent against each other. This year’s winners were Real Madrid – who won the competition for the 14th time overall. 

Find the best odds for next year’s Champions League and more sports betting spreads here. 

The tournament is made up of a round-robin group stage followed by a last 16 knockout – like many of the international soccer tournaments. 

Today, we are going to be looking at the players who have made some of the biggest impacts on the league. We will be looking at the 10 players who have scored the most Champions League goals. 

You can probably guess who the top two scorers are, but the rest of this list might surprise you. 

#10 – Zlatan Ibrahimović – 48 Goals 

Ajax – 6 Goals

Juventus – 3 Goals

Inter Milan – 6 Goals

Barcelona – 4 Goals 

Milan – 9 Goals 

Paris Saint-Germain – 20 Goal 

Ibrahimovic is the only player to score Champions League goals for more than 6 teams. He is still active and is currently playing for AC Milan for the second time in his career. 

#9 – Alfredo Di Stéfano – 49 Goals

Real Madrid – All 49 Goals 

Di Stefano is the only player on this list to have taken part in the original format of the tournament which makes his achievement even more impressive. 

The original tournament was a knockout tournament so players had fewer chances to score goals than the current players. 

Di Stefano played all of his Champions League matches with Real Madrid. During his time with Madrid, Di Stefano was kidnapped while they were visiting Caracas. 

#8 –  Thierry Henry – 50 Goals 

Monaco – 7 Goals 

Arsenal – 35 Goals 

Barcelona – 8 Goals

Henry is one of only two French players to make it onto this list. He is a World Cup and European Cup winner. He also won the Champions League once. 

Henry scored the majority of his Champions League goals with Arsenal, where he was mentored by the legendary manager, Arsène Wenger. 

#7 – Thomas Müller – 52 Goals 

Bayern Munich – All 52 Goals 

Muller is the highest-scoring player to score all their Champions League goals with one team. He is also the only German player in this top 10 list. Muller is still an active player. 

Muller has won the Champions League twice (2012, 2020) since debuting in 2008.

#6 – Ruud van Nistelrooy – 56 Goals 

PSV Eindhoven  – 8 Goals 

Manchester United – 35 Goals 

Real Madrid – 13 Goals 

Van Nistelrooy jointly holds the record for second-most goals scored for an English Premier League club (35) with Thierry Henry. 

Van Nistelrooy scored 56 goals over 20 years. 

The Dutch international retired from professional soccer in 2012 and has been developing a coaching career since. He now coaches at PSV Eindhoven where he made his professional debut. 

#5 –  Raúl – 71 Goals 

Real Madrid (66)

Schalke 04 (5)

Raul won the Champions League three times with Real Madrid, in 1998, 2000, and 2002. He scored 66 goals with the team over 15 years. In two years with Schalke, he scored another 5 goals. 

He is the only Spanish player to make it into the top 10. 

#4 – Karim Benzema – 86 Goals 

Lyon – 12 Goals 

Real Madrid – 74 Goals 

Benzema is the second French player on this list. France is the only country to have more than one player on this list. 

Benzema played for Lyon for 5 years and has played with Real Madrid since 2009. He is still active. 

#3 – Robert Lewandowski – 86 Goals 

Borussia Dortmund  – 17 Goals 

Bayern Munich – 69 Goals 

At 33 years old. Lewandowski is the youngest player on this list by far. He debuted in professional soccer in 2011 and has scored 86 goals in 10 years of playing in the Champions League. 

He is the second-highest goalscorer of all time in Bundesliga, behind Gerd Muller. 

In the 2019-20 season, Lewandowski won the Champions League, the Bundesliga, the UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup. He was the highest scoring player in all of those tournaments. 

#2 – Lionel Messi – 125 Goals

Barcelona – 120 Goals 

Paris Saint-Germain – 5 Goals 

No one reading this is shocked to see Messi at number two on this list. The Argentinian is widely considered to be the greatest soccer player of all time. 

As you can see, there is a huge difference between the number of goals that Messi and Lewandowski have scored. 

Messi played with Barcelona since 2004 and moved to Paris at the start of this season. In just one year he scored 5 goals in the competition. 

#1 – Cristiano Ronaldo – 140 Goals 

Manchester United – 21 Goals

Real Madrid  – 105 Goals 

Juventus – 14 Goals 

Again, there is no surprise that Ronaldo has topped this list. He has played in every Champions League tournament since 2002. 

We may never see another player score this many goals in this competition.