Champions League goal records: Most scored in a season, in a match, and all-time in UCL history

Kyle Bonn

Champions League goal records: Most scored in a season, in a match, and all-time in UCL history image

The UEFA Champions League is considered the world's preeminent club tournament, and players can become legends with great performances in Europe's top competition.

Since scoring goals is considered the most glamorous skill in football, those who find the back of the net consistently can earn legendary status in the game.

Today, talents like Erling Haaland the Kylian Mbappe look like they have what it takes to match the exploits of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who have left their indelible mark on Europe's elite tournament.

The Sporting News brings you the top names and numbers for the goalscoring legends of all-time in European play. The lists below combine goalscoring from both iterations of UEFA's top competition: the European Cup (beginning in 1955) and the Champions League (since 1992/93).

MORE: Updated goalscoring leaders for 2022/23 Champions League season

Record for most Champions League goals in a season?

Cristiano Ronaldo holds the two greatest seasons in European club football history.

His record from the 2013/14 season still stands after nearly a decade, scoring 17 goals across 11 matches and 993 minutes as Real Madrid won the title during that campaign. Ronaldo scored in every single match he appeared in except one, going 73 goal-less minutes in the first leg of their semifinal match against Bayern. He started the Champions League with a hat-trick against Galatasaray to open group stage play, and added braces against FC Copenhagen, Juventus, Schalke (twice), and Bayern Munich.

He would nearly repeat that incredible feat just two seasons later, bagging 16 goals as Madrid yet again won the title in 2015/16. He scored hat-tricks against Shakhtar Donetsk and Wolfsburg, plus a four-goal stunner against Malmo in the group stage. That year, Ronaldo would manage 'just' five goals in the knockout stage, doing most of the work early on in a soft group stage. He was held off the scoresheet in the semifinals and final, but Madrid hoisted the trophy anyway.

Lionel Messi's best season ranks him sixth, bagging 14 goals in the 2011/12 season as Barcelona reached the semifinals before falling to Chelsea. Others on the list from football's earlier days include goal hawk Jose Altafini, German great Gerd 'Der Bomber' Muller, and Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas, for whom FIFA's Goal of the Season award is named.

The most goals by a player for an English club in a single season of the tournament is Ruud van Nistelrooy who scored 12 for Manchester United in 2002/03. Erling Haaland has matched that mark this season with 12 of his own for Man City, needing one more in the final to surpass that mark.

RankPlayerClubSeasonGoals
1.Cristiano RonaldoReal Madrid2013/1417
2.Cristiano RonaldoReal Madrid2015/1616
3.Robert LewandowskiBayern Munich2019/2015
 Karim BenzemaReal Madrid2021/2215
 Cristiano RonaldoReal Madrid2017/1815
6.Lionel MessiBarcelona2011/1214
 Jose AltafiniAC Milan1962/6314
8.Robert LewandowskiBayern Munich2021/2213
9.Lionel MessiBarcelona2018/1912
 Cristiano RonaldoReal Madrid2016/1712
 Cristiano RonaldoReal Madrid2012/1312
 Mario GomezBayern Munich2011/1212
 Lionel MessiBarcelona2010/1112
 Ruud van NistelrooyMan United2002/0312
 Gerd MullerBayern Munich1972/7312
 Ferenc PuskasReal Madrid1959/6012
 Erling HaalandMan City2022/2312

What is the record for most Champions League goals all-time?

With consistent goalscoring numbers in European play season after season, it's no surprise that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are atop the Champions League career goalscoring charts.

A wide gap exists below those two all-time greats and the duo chasing them: Robert Lewandowski (3rd) and Karim Benzema (4th).

The top non-active player is Raul with 71 goals, with Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy 15 goals behind him.

Champions League career goals as of April 11, 2023, only counts goals scored in group or knockout stages, excluding qualifying.

RankPlayerClubsGoals
1.Cristiano Ronaldo*Man United, Real Madrid, Juventus140
2.Lionel Messi*Barcelona, PSG129
3.Robert Lewandowski*Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich,
Barcelona
94
4.Karim Benzema*Olympique Lyon, Real Madrid90
5.RaulReal Madrid, Schalke71
6.Ruud van NistelrooyPSV Eindhoven, Man United,
Real Madrid
56
7.Thomas Muller*Bayern Munich54
8.Thierry HenryAS Monaco, Arsenal, Barcelona50
9.Alfredo Di StefanoReal Madrid49
10Zlatan IbrahimovicAjax, Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan,
Barcelona, PSG
48
 Andriy ShevchenkoDynamo Kyiv, AC Milan, Chelsea48
 Kylian Mbappe*AS Monaco, PSG48

* Active players

Who has the most Champions League hat-tricks?

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are both tied atop the Champions League hat-trick list, with twice as many as anyone else in the history of the competition save Robert Lewandowski, who's just two behind.

Only four players in history have more than three hat-tricks in UEFA's top competition, which makes the eight that Ronaldo and Messi each own that much more incredible.

Champions League hat-tricks as of April 16, 2024

RankPlayerClubsHat-tricks
1.Cristiano Ronaldo*Man United, Real Madrid, Juventus8
 Lionel Messi*Barcelona, PSG8
3.Robert Lewandowski*Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Barcelona6
4.Karim Benzema*Olympique Lyon, Real Madrid4
5.Mario GomezStuttgart, Bayern Munich3
 Neymar*Barcelona, PSG3
 Filippo InzaghiJuventus, AC Milan3
 Luiz Adriano*Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan3

* Active player

Most goals scored in a Champions League match?

Nobody has ever scored more than five goals in a single Champions League or European Cup match, which has surprisingly been done 15 times in history, including five times in the Champions League era.

It's only happened four times since the turn of the millennium, with Erling Haaland the latest to achieve the feat in 2023.

The only club to concede five Champions League goals by a single player twice is Cypriot side Omonia, which saw it happen both times in the 1970's.

Players to score five goals in a Champions League match

SeasonPlayerStageClubOpponent
2022/23Erling HaalandRound of 16Manchester CityRB Leipzig
2014/15Luiz AdrianoGroup StageShakhtar DonetskBATE Borisov
2014/15David Lafata2nd Qualifying RoundSparta PragueLevadia Tallinn
2011/12Lionel MessiRound of 16BarcelonaBayer Leverkusen
1999/00Mihails Miholaps1st Qualifying RoundSkonto RigaJeunesse Esch
1979/80Soren Lerby2nd RoundAjaxOmonia
1978/79Claudio Sulser1st RoundGrasshoppersValletta
1972/73Gerd Muller2nd RoundBayern MunichOmonia
1966/67Paul van Himst1st RoundAnderlechtHaka
1965/66Florian AlbertPreliminary RoundFerencvarosKeflavik
1964/65Nikola KotovPreliminary RoundLokomotiv SofiaMalmo FF
1962/63Ray CrawfordPreliminary RoundIpswich TownFloriana
1962/63Jose AltafiniPreliminary RoundAC MilanUnion Luxembourg
1961/62Bent LofqvistPreliminary RoundBoldklubben 1993Spora
1959/60Ove OlssonPreliminary RoundGothenburgLinfield

Fastest hat-trick in Champions League history?

Hat-tricks have been a coveted milestone for any goalscorer across European competition, but records have been shattered in the past few seasons.

In the 2021/22 competition, Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick against RB Salzburg in the second leg of their Round of 16 matchup just 23 minutes from the opening whistle, which still sits as the fastest hat-trick in the competition's history.

However, the following year, Mohamed Salah carved out a piece of his own history. Coming off the bench in the 68th minute of Liverpool's group stage match against Rangers at Ibrox, Salah scored a hat-trick in under seven minutes from the first goal to the third goal, marking the quickest hat-trick in Champions League history between goals scored.

MORE: Full review of fastest hat-tricks in Champions League history

Youngest goal scorer in Champions League history?

Teenage superstars are becoming more and more prominent in Europe's top competition, as coaches embrace the idea that those who are good enough are old enough.

No top club has embraced that notion more than Barcelona, who have brought several young talents through the ranks of their world-famous La Masia academy to the senior team.

The youngest-ever Champions League goal scorer from the group stage on is Ansu Fati, who in 2019 bagged his first-ever goal in Europe against Inter at the San Siro while just 17 years 40 days old. That goal made Fati the first-ever 16-year-old goal scorer in the Champions League, breaking a record that had been held since before Fati was born. Peter Ofori-Quaye's goal for Olympiakos in the 1997 group stage gave him the record at the time, and stood for over 22 years.

However, one age-old record that remains intact is that of Wlodzimierz Lubanski who holds the mark for youngest-ever goal scorer in the history of the European Cup across any stage and any iteration of the competition. According to Transfermarkt, his goal in 1963 for Polish club Gornik Zabarze against Czech side FK Dukla Prague in the Round of 16 gave him a record that still stands today — 16 years, 263 days old at the time his goal was scored.

Barcelona also benefitted from the youngest-ever player to assist a Champions League goal, as Lamine Yamal assisted a Ferran Torres goal against Royal Antwerp in a group stage match, before his assist to Raphinha against PSG months later in the quarterfinal made him the youngest-ever assister in a knockout stage match.

The Catalan giants were also the beneficiaries when Bojan Krkic became the youngest-ever goal scorer in a Champions League knockout stage, putting Barca up 1-0 on Schalke in the first leg of their 2008 quarterfinal matchup. In fact, it was Krkic's assist record that Yamal broke with his assist against Royal Antwerp as well.

Youngest Champions League goal scorers

Only counting group stage onwards in modern iteration of UEFA Champions League (since 1993).

PlayerClubDateAge
Ansu FatiBarcelonaDec. 10, 2019 at Inter16 years, 283 days
George IlenikhenaRoyal AntwerpDec. 13, 2023 vs. Barcelona17 years, 119 days
Antonio NusaClub BruggeSep. 13, 2022 vs. Porto17 years, 149 days
Peter Ofori-QuayeOlympiakosOct. 1, 1997 vs. Rosenborg17 years, 194 days
Mateo KovacicDinamo ZagrebDec. 1, 2011 vs. Lyon17 years, 215 days

Youngest to assist a Champions League goal

Only counting group stage onwards in modern iteration of UEFA Champions League (since 1993).

PlayerClubDateAge
Lamine YamalBarcelonaApr. 16, 2024 vs PSG16 years, 283 days
Bojan KrkicBarcelonaNov. 27, 2007 at Lyon17 years, 91 days

Kyle Bonn

Kyle Bonn Photo

Kyle Bonn, is a Syracuse University broadcast journalism graduate with over a decade of experience covering soccer globally. Kyle specializes in soccer tactics and betting, with a degree in data analytics. Kyle also does TV broadcasts for Wake Forest soccer, and has had previous stops with NBC Soccer and IMG College. When not covering the game, he has long enjoyed loyalty to the New York Giants, Yankees, and Fulham. Kyle enjoys playing racquetball and video games when not watching or covering sports.