Gerd Muller, Lionel Messi to Cristiano Ronaldo - Who has the best goal per game ratio in Champions League?

Ritabrata Banerjee

Gerd Muller, Lionel Messi to Cristiano Ronaldo - Who has the best goal per game ratio in Champions League? image

Cristiano Ronaldo netted his 136th Champions League goal against Villarreal scoring a 92nd-minute winner as Manchester United beat the Spanish side 2-1 in their second group game.

The Portuguese star also went past his former Real Madrid teammate Iker Casillas's tally of 177 matches and is now the most capped Champions League player of all time.

Ronaldo is the all-time highest goalscorer in the history of the Champions League followed by his close rival Lionel Messi who has 121 goals to his name so far. Messi, despite scoring 15 goals less than the Portuguese, has superior goals per game ratio as the Argentine has played 151 matches compared to Ronaldo's 179.

The PSG star has the highest goalscoring ratio in the Champions League among the current lot of players followed by Ronaldo and Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski who has 75 goals in 97 matches with a 0.76 goals ratio which is similar to Ronaldo's.

But the player who enjoys the highest goals per game ratio in the competition's history is Germany and Bayern Munich legend the late Gerd Muller. The forward scored 34 goals in 35 appearances in the Champions for Bayern Munich with a goal ratio of 0.97.

Lionel Messi Cristiano Ronaldo Robert Lewandowski split

Muller is followed by former Real Madrid star Ferenc Puskas who scored 36 goals in 41 appearances. Messi has the sixth-highest goal scoring ratio in Europe's biggest stage followed by Ronaldo in the seventh position and Lewandowski in the eighth.

Here, we take a look at the top 10 players who have the highest goals per game ratio in the history of the Champions League.

Which players have the highest goals ratio in Champions League's history?

No. Player Goals Matches Goal ratio Clubs
1 Gerd Muller 34 35 0.97 Bayern Munich
2 Ferenc Puskas 36 41 0.88 Budepest Honvest (1), Real Madrid (36)
3 Jose Altafini 24 28 0.86 AC Milan (20), Juventus (4)
4 Alfredo Di Stefano 49 58 0.84 Real Madrid
5 Lionel Messi 121 151 0.80 FC Barcelona
6 Ruud van Nistelrooy 56 73 0.77 PSV Eindhoven (8), Manchester United (35), Real Madrid (13)
7 Cristiano Ronaldo 136 178 0.76 Manchester United (16), Real Madrid (105), Juventus (14)
8 Robert Lewandowski 75 97 0.76 Borussia Dortmund (17), Bayern Munich (58)
9 Jean-Pierre Papin 28 37 0.76 Marseille (19), AC Milan (7), Bayern Munich (2)
10 Eusebio 46 65 0.71 Benfica

 

Ritabrata Banerjee