Summary
There have been many incredible goalscorers in Champions League history.
Three men have scored over a century of goals in the competition.
Lineker, Shearer and Richards have named the top 10 finishers in the competition's history.
The Champions League is where the best of the best play, so to be considered as one of the greatest in any given category in the competition's history takes some doing. But to have that honour in arguably the most important one is even more special. Scoring goals is the name of the game, and given the level of opposition in Europe's elite tournament, it is easier said than done.
There are, however, some incredible names who made it look easy and have earned the right to sit at the table with other legends. In an edition of the Match of the Day Top 10 podcast, Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards ranked the 10 greatest goalscorers in Champions League history.
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10 Kylian Mbappe
Champions League goals: 55
The youngest player on the list and one of three still active, Kylian Mbappe will have one eye on the all-time record before all is said and done. He has already surpassed a half-century of goals and will be hoping that joining Real Madrid will help him finally capture the trophy that has thus far eluded him.
"I think if we do this list in a few years' time, he might get higher," marvelled Lineker, while Richards said of the Frenchman: "He's my favourite modern-day player. His dribbling, goalscoring, he's got everything."
9 Andriy Shevchenko
Champions League goals: 48
While his most famous moment in the competition may well be his penalty miss in the final against Liverpool back in 2005, Andriy Shevchenko was an elite marksman. The Ukranian scored 48 goals in the competition and won it in 2003 prior to his Istanbul heartbreak.
"That feeling of when stick a ball in the back of the net in a big game and all these players have done it over and over, including Shevchenko," said Lineker.
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8 Thierry Henry
Champions League goals: 35
If it weren't for his move to Barcelona, we could be sitting here discussing Thierry Henry as one of the greatest players to never win the Champions League. The Frenchman did get his hands on the trophy in 2009, though by then he was playing a supplementary role to Lionel Messi.
His best years came, of course, at Arsenal, where his goals did help them reach the final in 2006. Although he was a tremendous player, his goal record does not stand out among the best, which the trio admitted hurt his position, as being a great goalscorer was different from analysing the winger's all-round game.
7 Ruud van Nistelrooy
Champions League goals: 56
If you look up the definition of poacher in the dictionary, there is a good chance you may be met with a picture of Ruud van Nistelrooy. At his peak, no one was as lethal as the Dutchman inside the 18-yard box, and before Wayne Rooney toppled him, no Manchester United player had scored more goals in European competitions.
"His record, 56 in 73 games. Champions League top scorer in '02, '03, and '05," Shearer reminisced, with the Newcastle icon originally putting Van Nistelrooy in his top five. "There haven't been many better finishers than him. When chances come along, he was brilliant at taking them."
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6 Mohamed Salah
Champions League goals: 47
He may not be a striker, but Mohamed Salah is certainly a goalscorer. His record, despite playing in a wider position, is still second to none, and while he has lifted the famous trophy once with Liverpool, his efforts almost single-handedly carried the Reds to two more.
"There are so many players, like Salah who have changed the wording. They are forwards now, not centre forwards," Shearer explained. "Mo Salah epitomises what has changed about it [the roles in attack]."
"If you watch him, sometimes his play is a little bit scruffy. He's not near and tidy like a Thierry Henry. But he just knows where the net is," Richards added.
5 Raul
Champions League goals: 71
For all the big-money galacticos that walked through the door at the Santiago Bernabeu during the 2000s, none embodied what it meant to be a Real Madrid player more than the legendary Raul. The Spaniard had a knack for scoring goals, and while his star and name value perhaps never shone as brightly as Zinedine Zidane's or Ronaldo's, his contributions were beyond compare.
"He was a proper player," quipped Richards as the hosts marvelled not only at his goal record, which stood at almost a goal every other game, but also his 32 assists, which took him beyond the 100 mark in terms of his total goal contributions in the competition.
4 Karim Benzema
Champions League goals: 90
For years, Karim Benzema was always the bridesmaid and never the bride, but in that time the Frenchman was still chipping in plenty to support the likes of Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo. However, when the time came for him to take centre stage, he didn't shirk from that responsibility and put in performances that would see him lift the Ballon d'Or.
"I thought he showed his brilliance as a footballer and his intelligence as a footballer because he adapted with Ronaldo to a slightly different secondary role," Lineker said. "When Cristiano left, his numbers jumped back up again in terms of goalscoring overall. I think that speaks volumes."
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3 Robert Lewandowski
Champions League goals: 103
It might take some doing for Robert Lewandowski to climb inside the top two Champions League goalscorers of all time. After all, one would imagine he doesn't have too long left at the top level given he is entering his late thirties, but the Polish superstar is still going strong at Barcelona and is one of just three men to have surpassed a century of strikes in the competition.
A winner of the tournament in 2020, Lewandowski would no doubt love nothing more than to win it again, this time in front of fans, as his triumph with Bayern Munich was behind closed doors. That didn't stop everyone who watched him that year from being left in awe though, as many felt as though he was robbed of the Ballon d'Or.
"It's unbelievable that he's still going," Shearer stated. "Imagine the respect he gets in that Barcelona dressing room off those young boys after what he's done in his career. What a centre forward he is."
2 Lionel Messi
Champions League goals: 129
For many, Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time. But, as has been emphasised multiple times already, this list is about a player's ability to put the ball in the back of the net, not their complete game. And in this competition, at the very least, there is one who is just slightly superior.
Nonetheless, a four-time winner, you cannot take away what the Argentine has done in the Champions League and the level of dominance he achieved with Barcelona under Pep Guardiola.
"Messi can score the much bigger variety of goals," Lineker argued. "He can score every type of goal. He can beat half your team and all of that."
1 Cristiano Ronaldo
Champions League goals: 140
"What a joy, what a pleasure it has been to watch those two go head to head," was the sentiment before it was settled that Cristiano Ronaldo was going to be the number one choice. As the competition's all-time leading scorer, it was always going to be hard to argue against the Portuguese superstar, and the fact he also won it more times than his long-time rival gave him another edge.
It's not just in the Champions League where Ronaldo reigns supreme, though. With close to 1000 career goals, his legacy in front of goal is well and truly cemented and impossible to argue against.
All statistics courtesy of UEFA and Transfermarkt - accurate as of 27th March 2025.