With Messi’s move to Inter Miami, Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of the most goals ever scored in the UEFA Champions League seems safe for the foreseeable future.
However, Erling Haaland is requesting to be included as a potential challenger for the title, along with a select few others.
Even after Ronaldo’s retirement and relocation to the Saudi Pro League, Messi was still expected to surpass him as the player with the most goals for a single club. Messi is only a few years younger, so scoring 11 more goals was not out of the question.
On Tuesday, however, Haaland scored twice against Young Boys, the second of which was a particularly vicious rip, propelling him into the top 20 scorers in tournament history. Yes, he is still only 23 years old.
Robert Lewandowski, 49 goals behind Ronaldo, is the current leader in goalscoring competition. Kylian Mbappé, who is also in fine form, is 98 goals behind, while Haaland is 101 goals behind.
Without taking into account qualification rounds, this is a list of the top scorers in the UEFA Champions League proper.
Cristiano Ronaldo, 140
Lionel Messi, 129
Robert Lewandowski, 92
Karim Benzema, 90
Raul, 71
Ruud van Nistelrooy, 60
Andriy Shevchenko, 59
Thomas Muller, 53
Thierry Henry, 51
Filippo Inzaghi, 50
Alfredo Di Stefano, 49
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 49
Mohamed Salah, 48
Eusebio, 47
Sergio Aguero, 47
Didier Drogba, 44
Neymar, 43
Alessandro Del Piero, 43
Kylian Mbappe, 42
Fernando Morientes, 39
Erling Haaland, 39
Ferenc Puskas, 35
Edinson Cavani, 35
Antoine Griezmann, 35
Gerd Muller, 34
Wayne Rooney, 34
Samuel Eto’o, 33
Arjen Robben, 32
Francisco Gento, 32
David Trezeguet, 32