7 Best Scorers in UEFA Champions League History

Everyone remembers when he said: "This game is the most important in the world. It is even bigger than the World Cup because the teams in it are at a higher level than national teams, who can't buy the best players.”

Therefore, as the competition is widely considered to be among the most intense and difficult to succeed in, goal-scoring comes at a premium in the UEFA Champions League.

Best Scorers in UEFA Champions League History:

Even with major clubs tightening their grip on the Champions League in recent decades, it still takes supreme talent to score goal after goal in this competition. Which is why the following players are justifiably praised as being some of history’s top-goalscorers, since they are the only ones to have crossed the 50-goal mark in the Champions League so far:

7. Thierry Henry – 50 goals

We start off this countdown with Arsenal’s most emblematic player, the Frenchman who rose to glory as the linchpin of the club’s famous unbeaten season

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In the Champions League, Theirry Henry never quite managed to take Arsenal over the finishing line, topping out at second place during the 2006 season.

Still, his 50 goals in the competition, most of which came as a member of the Gunners, put him in rarefied air, with the goalscorer also averaging about 0.45 goals per game.

6. Ruud Van Nistelrooy – 56 goals

As a supremely-confident striker who could find the back of the net from any position, Ruud Van Nistelrooy experienced most of his success under Alex Ferguson, whose Manchester United squad was a regular contender for the top spot in the Premier League as well as the Champions League.

While he never won the latter competition with the Red Devils, the Dutchman did manage to snag the title of top goalscorer in the competition on three separate occasions, with an average of 0.77 goals per appearance.

5. Karim Benzema – 67 goals

for both Real Madrid and the French national team, Karim Benzema was a potent finisher inside the box whose clinical goals often led to wins for his teams.

With Real Madrid, he won an eye-popping four Champions League titles, including three in succession. That and a goal-scoring average of 0.54 per match is enough to put the Frenchman in great company amongst the other heavyweights on this list.

4. Robert Lewandowski – 70 goals

Always a favorite for oddsmakers and bookies thanks to his dependable scoring record, Lewandowski anchored the attack for both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, helping the latter win the Champions League last season with victories in

.

Known primarily for his tactical positioning and exceptional finishing abilities, Lewandowski is still going strong despite being in his early 30s. And with a goal scoring average of 0.75 per match, he looks set to add to his total in the coming years.

3. Raul – 71 goals

Once known for being the face of Real Madrid, Raul’s star has faded somewhat in recent years due to the emergence of Cristiano Ronaldo, but he remains one of Los Blancos’ most iconic players.

Almost all of Raul’s goals were scored in Real Madrid’s uniform, with the club winning the Champions League on three separate occasions with him as a featured player.

Boasting a goal-scoring average of 0.50 goals per match, Raul remains an unparalleled finisher whose elegant play allowed him to exploit gaps in even the tightest of defenses.  

2. Lionel Messi – 118 goals

What more could be said about Lionel Messi that hasn’t already been said? Barcelona’s golden boy managed to meet and surpass every expectation of him since he cracked the Catalan side’s first team at the tender age of 17 back in 2004.

Since then, Messi has been on a tear, helping Barcelona win four Champions League titles and scoring a whopping 0.81 goals per match in the competition. The enduring popularity of players like Messi has helped the Champions League become a household name, one replete with video game depictions and even themed

at various online casinos across Europe.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo – 130 goals

Even though Messi is usually acknowledged as being the superior player, in the Champions League at least Cristiano Ronaldo reigns supreme. With an unbelievable 130 goals in 170 appearances, the Portuguese superstar has ruled the competition ever since his first win with Manchester United back in 2007.

Since then, he has added four Champions League trophies to Real Madrid’s record, netting goals left and right along the way for a goalscoring average of 0.76 per game.

When all is said and done, the seven players listed here will go down as some of the most superb finishers football has ever known. It’s players like these that have made the Champions League the powerhouse competition it is today, a trend that looks set to continue in the years to come.

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