Lionel Messi’s transfer to Inter Miami 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.
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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 105 Champions League goals heading into the semifinal stage of this season’s tournament.
That puts him 24 behind Messi and 36 back of Ronaldo. At 36 years old, he couldn’t.... could he?
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 52 goals, — the fastest player to hit that mark in history. He’s passed the career hauls of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alfredo Di Stefano. And, yes, Haaland is still just 25 years old.
Kylian Mbappe is about a year-and-a-half older and both the Frenchman and he’s had a fine start to the 2025-26 season; His hat trick versus Kairat Almaty makes him the seventh player to score 60 goals in the competition. He’s tied for sixth with Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Salah also made history in the 2024-25 season when he became 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, 105
Karim Benzema, 90
Raul, 71
Ruud van Nistelrooy, 60
Kylian Mbappe, 60
Andriy Shevchenko, 59
Thomas Muller, 57
Erling Haaland, 54 (career stats)
Mohamed Salah, 52 (career stats)
Thierry Henry, 51
Filippo Inzaghi, 50
Alfredo Di Stefano, 49
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 49
Eusebio, 47
Sergio Aguero, 47
Didier Drogba, 44
Harry Kane, 45
Antoine Griezmann, 44
Neymar, 43
Alessandro Del Piero, 43
Fernando Morientes, 39
Ferenc Puskas, 35
Edinson Cavani, 35
Gerd Muller, 34
Wayne Rooney, 34
Samuel Eto’o, 33
Arjen Robben, 32
Francisco Gento, 32
David Trezeguet, 32