UEFA Champions League is amongst the most reputed competition in Europe and every club in Europe eyes to lift the trophy. Clubs like AC Milan, Liverpool FC, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, FC Bayern Munich have won the most titles in its history and some of the top scorers in the competition come from these clubs. Today we will look at the top 10 att-time UEFA Champions League top scorers.
It does not come as a surprise that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the epitome of goal-scoring, sit comfortably at the top of the list but the race for the 3rd spot is firing up.
UEFA Champions League was first contested back in 1992/93 and since then Ronaldo and Messi are the only two players to have scored over 100 goals in the competition (with Ronaldo being the 1st ever).
Also Read: Teams With Most Number Of FIFA World Cup Wins
For the list, we will only include goals scored in the European Cup/Champions League and not look at goals scored when the league was called European Champions Clubs’ Cup given the competition started back in 1955/56 an it was a knockout ties format all the way meaning with a lack of group stage players had fewer matches per season they could score in.
Alfredo Di Stefano holds the record for the all-time European Cup top scorer with 49 goals in 58 appearances, a goal to game ration that none of the modern greats could achieve.
Cristiano Ronaldo stands at the top of the list of all time top scorers in UEFA Champions League, UEFA club competition as well as the all-time top scorer in Football ever. Having said that, he was not an out-and-out forward to begin with and did not score a single Champions League goal until his 27th appearance with Manchester United.
It was only when the Portuguese switched from wing position to a central striking role he started finding the back of the net and with frightening regularity.
The date was 18th April, 2017, Ronaldo attained a feat that had never been reached before, he became the first player to score 100 goals in the Champions League after scoring a hat-trick against Bayern in his 137th appearance of the competition.
Lionel Messi is the 2nd highest scorer in the UEFA Champions League and is the only 2nd player to have scored 100 goals in the competition. Lionel Messi, on 14th March, 2018, scored two goals against Chelsea in the 2nd leg of round of 16, helping Barcelona reach the Quarter Finals.
Messi holds the record for most hat-tricks in UEFA Champions League tied with Cristiano Ronaldo at 8. Messi also holds the record to score the most Champions League goals with a single club 120 goals with Barcelona with whom he played for 20 years, 2nd place is held by Cristiano Ronaldo with 105 goals in 10 years with Real Madrid.
Here are the all-time UEFA Champions League Top Scorers (excluding qualifying)
*stats includes 2023/24 goals
| S. No. | Player Name | Country | Played For | Goals Scored |
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus | 140 |
| 2 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain | 129 |
| 3 | Robert Lewandowski | Poland | Borussia Dortmund, Bayern München, Barcelona | 92 |
| 4 | Karim Benzema | France | Lyon, Real Madrid | 90 |
| 5 | Raúl González | Spain | Real Madrid, Schalke | 71 |
| 6 | Ruud van Nistelrooy | Netherlands | PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, Real Madrid | 56 |
| 7 | Thomas Müller | Germany | Bayern München | 53 |
| 8 | Thierry Henry | France | Monaco, Arsenal, Barcelona | 50 |
| 9 | Zlatan Ibrahimović | Sweden | Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United | 48 |
| 9 | Andriy Shevchenko | Ukraine | Dynamo Kyiv, AC Milan, Chelsea | 48 |
| 10 | Filippo Inzaghi | Italy | Juventus, AC Milan | 46 |
Who do you think will be Rank 3 by the end of UEFA Champions League 2023/24?