Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record for the most goals scored in the UEFA Champions League, with 140 goals. He achieved this while playing for Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus. Lionel Messi is close behind, with 129 goals for Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. In third place is Robert Lewandowski, who has scored 94 goals for Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona.

Ronaldo and Messi are the only two players to have scored over 100 goals in the Champions League. Neither played in the competition when it was known as the European Champions Clubs' Cup, which began in 1955/56 as a knockout tournament. Alfredo Di Stefano was the top scorer in that version of the competition, with 49 goals in 58 matches.

Karim Benzema ranks fourth on the all-time Champions League goals list with 90 goals, playing for Lyon and Real Madrid. Raul Gonzalez follows in fifth place, having netted 71 goals during his time at Real Madrid and Schalke. Dutch legend Ruud van Nistelrooy comes in sixth with 56 goals, which he scored for PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, and Real Madrid.

Thomas Müller is seventh, having scored 54 goals for Bayern Munich. In eighth place is Thierry Henry, who found the back of the net 50 times while playing for Monaco, Arsenal, and Barcelona.

Tied for the ninth spot are Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kylian Mbappe, and Andriy Shevchenko, each with 48 goals. Ibrahimovic scored his goals while playing for several clubs, including Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, and Manchester United. Mbappe scored his 48 goals for Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain, while Shevchenko scored for Dynamo Kyiv, AC Milan, and Chelsea.

Rounding out the top 10 is Filippo Inzaghi, who scored 46 goals for Juventus and AC Milan.

Most Goals in the Champions League

1: Cristiano Ronaldo: 140 goals in 183 games

Cristiano Ronaldo is the all-time top scorer in the UEFA Champions League, with 140 goals in 183 matches for Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Juventus. Remarkably, his first goal in the competition came in his 27th game during his first spell at Manchester United. Ronaldo became the first player to score 100 Champions League goals, reaching the milestone against Bayern Munich in 2017. He has won the tournament five times—once with Manchester United and four times with Real Madrid—and is the only player to have scored in three different finals. Ronaldo also jointly holds the record along with Messi for the most Champions League hat-tricks, with eight.

2: Lionel Messi: 129 goals in 163 games

Lionel Messi, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, is the only player to have scored over 100 goals in the UEFA Champions League. He has netted 129 goals in 163 appearances, playing for Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. Of those, 120 were scored for Barcelona, making him the highest scorer for a single club in the competition's history. Messi is also the first player to score in 18 consecutive editions of the Champions League and the only player to score in 16 straight campaigns for the same team. He won the tournament four times with Barcelona.

3: Robert Lewandowski: 94 goals in 120 games

Barcelona’s current striker, Robert Lewandowski, ranks third on the all-time UEFA Champions League goal-scoring list with 94 goals in 120 appearances for Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona. He was the top scorer in the 2019/20 Champions League, netting 15 goals to help Bayern Munich win the title. Impressively, Lewandowski reached 80 goals in just 100 matches, faster than Lionel Messi, who did it in 102 games, and Cristiano Ronaldo, who took 116 games to hit the same mark.