EXCLUSIVE UPDATED ALL-TIME CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TOP SCORERS LIST AS OF JANUARY 2026
Cristiano Ronaldo remains the UCL king with 140 goals. Explore the full list of all-time top scorers as of January 2026.
Who are the top scorers in Champions League history? Let’s break it down.
Cristiano Ronaldo: 140 Goals
Cristiano Ronaldo sits at the very top. He’s scored 140 goals in 183 Champions League games—no one else is close. These days, he’s at Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, so that number probably isn’t going higher. Most of those goals came in a Real Madrid shirt (105), but he also found the net 21 times for Manchester United and 14 for Juventus.
Nobody’s managed more goals in a single Champions League season than Ronaldo: he hit 17 for Madrid in 2013-14, the year they beat Atlético in the final. Just two years later, he almost matched it with 16. Across his career, he’s finished as the competition’s top scorer seven times—a record that stretches back through both the European Cup and Champions League eras.
Ronaldo has scored in 93 different Champions League matches, which is just over half the games he’s played. He’s bagged eight hat-tricks too, a record he shares with Lionel Messi. Over the years, he’s scored against 38 different teams—no one’s suffered more than Juventus, who conceded 10 of his goals, the most anyone’s let in against a single player.
Lionel Messi: 129 Goals
Messi comes next, with 129 goals. He actually holds the record for most goals for a single club—120 with Barcelona. After his move to PSG in 2021, he added nine more, but now that he’s at Inter Miami in MLS, it’s hard to see him adding to that tally.
Messi has scored against 40 different clubs in the Champions League, more than anyone—including Ronaldo. Arsenal were his favourite victims; he scored nine past them. He’s also found the net in 18 different Champions League seasons, scoring in every campaign since 2005-06. Only Karim Benzema has matched that.
Messi and Ronaldo both have eight Champions League hat-tricks, but Messi went one better in 2012: he scored five in a single game against Bayer Leverkusen. That was during his unbelievable 2011-12 season, when he racked up 73 goals in 60 games for Barcelona.
Robert Lewandowski: 105 Goals
Lewandowski isn’t far behind. He hit his 100th Champions League goal in November, scoring for Barcelona against Brest. Most of his goals (69) came at Bayern Munich, but he’s now scored more than 10 for both Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona—which only Ronaldo has done before.
He’s Bayern’s all-time top scorer in Europe, beating Gerd Müller’s record. In 2019-20, Lewandowski scored 15 times in the competition, leading Bayern to the title and becoming the first Polish player to finish as top scorer in a Champions League season.
Karim Benzema: 90 Goals
Finally, there’s Benzema, who reached 90 Champions League goals before leaving for Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia. He’s scored in every one of the 18 seasons he’s played in the competition, which is pretty incredible.
Benzema only won the Champions League golden boot once, in 2021-22, when he scored 15 to help Real Madrid lift the trophy. He didn’t score in the final, but he’d already done enough. With 78 goals for Madrid, only Ronaldo has more for the club.
Raúl: 71 Goals
Raúl isn’t just a Real Madrid legend—he’s also their third-highest scorer in the Champions League, racking up 66 goals for the club. When you add up his full tally, including his time at Schalke, he sits at 71 goals in the competition, the fifth highest in history.
For a long time, Raúl led the Champions League scoring charts. He held onto that top spot until November 2014, when Messi and Ronaldo finally caught up and passed him. Raúl was also the first player ever to hit 50 goals in the UCL, doing it back in September 2005. For Real Madrid, he was the first to reach 50 goals in European competitions, beating the legendary Alfredo Di Stéfano’s old record of 49.
His last Champions League season came with Schalke in 2010-11, where, at 33, he still managed to score five more times. That brought his total up to 71—more than double any other Spaniard in UCL history. Fernando Morientes is the closest, and he only managed 33.
Other Players with 50+ UCL Goals
Kylian Mbappé: 66 Goals
Kylian Mbappé hit his 50th Champions League goal during Real Madrid’s match against Atalanta on December 10, 2024.
He was just 25 years and 356 days old then, making him the second-youngest ever to reach that milestone. Only Messi did it younger, at 24 years and 284 days, back in April 2012.
Mbappé got to 50 in 79 games, making him the fourth fastest to the mark. The only players to do it quicker? Ruud van Nistelrooy (62 games), Messi (66), and Lewandowski (77).
Thomas Müller: 57 Goals
Since debuting in 2008-09, Thomas Müller has scored 57 Champions League goals and set up 25 more.
He’s won the competition twice with Bayern Munich—first in 2012-13, then again in 2019-20.
Ruud van Nistelrooy: 56 Goals
Ruud van Nistelrooy scored 56 Champions League goals, but he might’ve had even more if he’d played in the competition earlier. Before turning 25 and joining Manchester United, he only played 11 UCL games for PSV.
Nobody hit 50 Champions League goals faster than Van Nistelrooy—he did it in just 62 appearances, though he was already 31 at the time.
For Manchester United, he scored 35 times, a club record that still stands above Wayne Rooney’s 30 and Ryan Giggs’ 28.
Erling Haaland: 55 Goals
Erling Haaland tore up the record books in September 2025, smashing the speed record for reaching 50 Champions League goals—he did it in just 49 games.
Counting his goals for Salzburg, Dortmund, and Manchester City, Haaland blew past Van Nistelrooy’s previous record of 62 games to 50 goals. He didn’t stop there—on Matchday 2 of the 2025-26 season, he scored twice more against Monaco, reaching 52 goals in his first 50 appearances. The old record for most goals in a player’s first 50 UCL games? Van Nistelrooy’s 43. Haaland left that in the dust.
Thierry Henry: 50 Goals
Thierry Henry hit 50 Champions League goals during his time at three clubs: 35 for Arsenal, eight at Barcelona, and seven with Monaco.
He got off to a flying start as a 20-year-old at Monaco, bagging six goals in his first five UCL games before heading to Arsenal in 1999-00. To this day, his 35 goals make him Arsenal’s top scorer in Champions League and European Cup history.
Here’s a look at the all-time top scorers in the UEFA Champions League, and wow, some of these numbers are wild. Cristiano Ronaldo leads the way with a staggering 140 goals. Messi isn’t far behind with 129. Lewandowski sits at 105, and Benzema’s right there with 90. Then there’s Raúl at 71, showing the old guard still holds a spot.
Mbappé’s already at 66, which is kind of ridiculous considering his age. Müller has 57, and van Nistelrooy’s just behind him with 56. Haaland, also pretty young, is already up to 55. Henry rounds out the top ten with 50 goals.
Salah, Shevchenko, and Ibrahimovic are all tied at 48. Inzaghi’s got 46, and Harry Kane’s at 45 (and honestly, he’s still going strong). Drogba’s 44; Neymar and Griezmann both have 43, and Del Piero and Agüero finish off the list with 42 and 41 goals each. Legends everywhere you look.
MARTIN ODEGAARD AND KAI HAVERTZ MISS FINAL TRAINING; CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HOPES FADING
Arsenal's Champions League hopes are in doubt as Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz miss final training ahead of the Atletico tie.
Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz didn’t show up for Arsenal’s open training on Monday, just a day before the crucial Champions League semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid. Both missed Saturday’s comfortable 3-0 win over Fulham because of injuries: Odegaard with his knee and Havertz with a muscular problem.
Odegaard hurt his knee in last week’s draw with Atletico, while Havertz hasn’t played since picking up an issue against Newcastle. After beating Fulham, Mikel Arteta sounded confident they’d be ready for Atletico, but on Monday neither player was seen with the first team. That’s a big hint they won’t be involved at the Emirates.
Arteta is set to speak to the media soon, though don’t expect him to spill much; he’s known for keeping his cards close to his chest when it comes to team news.
There were a couple more missing faces at London Colney. Jurrien Timber (groin) and Mikel Merino (foot) were also absent. Timber hasn’t featured since before the international break, and it’s unclear when he’ll return, but Arsenal hope it’s before the end of the season. Merino’s been out nearly three months since foot surgery. He might not play again this month.
On the upside, Bukayo Saka was back in training after getting subbed at halftime against Fulham, where he started his first Premier League game since mid-March.
Now, Arsenal really have a headache. Odegaard, who scored 15 goals last season, just hasn’t looked the same. Staff are increasingly worried about him; he’s missed 25 games in all competitions this year, thanks to a pileup of injuries: two freak shoulder issues, two muscular injuries, and the recurring knee problem. When he’s fit, Odegaard can still make magic happen; just look at his four assists across six games in January, but right now, his body keeps letting him down.
Havertz’s story isn’t much brighter. He’s managed only 20 appearances this season, mostly because of a serious knee injury in the summer and more muscle problems afterward. He’s Arsenal’s top earner at £280,000 a week, while Odegaard sits fourth at £240,000. Having two high-paid players sidelined so often is not ideal, and Arsenal need answers.
To try to sort out this ongoing injury crisis, Arteta has reportedly brought in a trusted expert from the medical field to lead an investigation. Arsenal hope this move finally sheds some light on their troubled injury record.
DECLAN RICE ACCUSES REFEREE OF CRUMBLING UNDER PRESSURE IN MADRID PENALTY DRAMA
Arsenal head to the Emirates with a 1-1 draw, but Declan Rice is fuming over the officiating standards in the Champions League.
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Declan Rice didn’t hold back after Arsenal’s 1-1 draw in Madrid, backing Mikel Arteta’s outrage and insisting the team deserved a “clear” penalty. He even went so far as to say that Atlético Madrid’s fans pushed the referee, Danny Makkelie, into changing his mind.
Arteta was livid. Late in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal, Makkelie first pointed to the spot for Arsenal after Eberechi Eze went down. But surrounded by Diego Simeone’s wild sideline antics and the roar of 70,000 Atleti supporters, Makkelie stared at the replay 13 times, then flipped his call and waved play on.
Looking back on it, Rice couldn’t believe it. “It’s a clear penalty,” he said. “I don't know how that's not been given. I think the fans got to him and changed his mind. UEFA is just a different world. In both boxes, you have to be so careful because referees call everything.”
Arsenal ran into trouble with VAR twice. First, the ref ruled Ben White handled a Llorente volley, and Julián Álvarez buried the resulting penalty, cancelling out Viktor Gyökeres’ earlier spot-kick. Rice felt for White. Talking with Stan Sport, he said, “If that happens in the Premier League, it doesn’t get given. The ball’s hardly off the ground, and it’s not even on target. But in the Champions League, the refs make these snap calls and whistle for everything. It’s just more strict. But whatever, we move on. We want to beat them next week.”
Despite the drama, Arsenal is still in a solid spot. They’ll head back to London, hoping the home crowd can push them into their first Champions League final since 2006. Bukayo Saka, freshly back from an Achilles injury, is counting on it. “We’d have liked to win, but we’ll take the draw. It’s halftime, and we’re full of confidence going back to the Emirates,” he said. “I’m sure the atmosphere will be even bigger, and that will give us a real boost.”
Before that return leg, Arsenal face Fulham at home on Saturday. They could put more heat on Manchester City by stretching their Premier League lead, though City still has games in hand and plays Everton next. The race is on.
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