Mbappé hat-trick hero
©TM/IMAGO
Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland are widely regarded as two of the best players on the planet after taking over the mantle from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The two extraordinary talents are amongst the most valuable players in the world, while Messi and Ronaldo are reaching the epilogue of their careers.
Messi and Ronaldo collected 13 Ballon D’Ors during their illustrious careers as they battled for individual and collective honours for almost two decades. Messi and Ronaldo haven’t retired yet as they pursue lucrative opportunities at Inter Miami and Al-Nassr respectvely but they are no longer competing in the pinnacle tournament in club football – the Champions League. Messi and Ronaldo are comfortably the two top goalscorers in the competition’s history but could Mbappé or Haaland eclipse their records?
Top five Champions League all-time top goalscorers (excluding qualifiers)
Ronaldo is the top goalscorer in Champions League history with 140 goals. The Portugal international scored 106 goals in the competition with Real Madrid, 21 with Manchester United and 14 with Juventus. Ronaldo impressively finished top scorer in the Champions League in seven campaigns and he recorded 0.79 goals per 90 in the competition across his career. Messi sits in second place with 129 goals but he averaged more goals per 90 (0.86) than Ronaldo. Messi scored 120 of his Champions League goals with Barcelona and he scored in 18 consecutive campaigns from the 2005/06 season.
While Ronaldo and Messi are highly unlikely to add to their goal tallies, Robert Lewandowski could still add to his 105 goals. Barcelona are amongst the favourites for the competition this season and the Polish striker will have ambitions of pushing on after recently becoming a centurion. Lewandowski is also Bayern Munich’s record European goalscorer with 69 goals. Karim Benzema, who sits fourth in the all-time list, will have to settle for 90 career goals in the competition, after departing European football for Saudi Arabia in 2023. The French striker famously scored 15 goals in the competition in a single campaign with Real Madrid, who were crowned champions after beating Liverpool in the final in 2022. Raúl is the third former Real Madrid player in the top five with the Spanish legend netting 71 goals in the competition and he was the first ever player to reach 50 goals.
Will Mbappé or Haaland become the Champions League all-time top scorer?
Mbappé (60) has scored more goals than Haaland (50) in the Champions League but the Manchester City striker’s scoring rate is far superior – the Norwegian averages more than a goal a game in the competition. The former PSG striker was the quickest player to reach 40 goals in the competition (59 games) before Haaland smashed his record by reaching the milestone in just 35 games. Haaland has the best goals per 90 record in the history of the tournament and he scored his 50th in the competition in matchday one. Mbappé netted his fourth hat-trick in the competition against Kairat Almaty to become the outright 6th highest scorer ever in the history of the illustrious tournament.