Champions League all-time top scorers -Ronaldo, Messi & UCL goal kings

Who is in the lead in the race to become the all-time top scorer in Europe's leading club competition? We've taken a look at the top finishers

The has featured some of the best goalscorers in history.

As the premier club competition in Europe and arguably the world, it is a stage that has been graced by countless icons of football.

Striking sensations such as Raul and Andriy Shevchenko dominated during the 1990s and 2000s, while Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have taken the art of scoring to a whole new level.

Goal takes a look at the all-time top scorers in the competition's history, dating back to the inaugural European Cup in 1955.

Who is the all-time Champions League top scorer?

As you can see from our table below, Cristiano Ronaldo is the top scorer in the history of the Champions League (including the European Cup) and the star is closely followed by his arch-rival, 's Lionel Messi .

There is a significant gulf between that pair and the rest, with Madrid icon Raul following in third place. Karim Benzema is the fourth best Champions League goalscorer of all time, while Bayern star Robert Lewandowski rounds out the top five.

Champions League/European Cup all-time top 20 goalscorers:

Pos Player Goals Appearances Goals per game 1 Cristiano Ronaldo 130 170 0.76 2 Lionel Messi 115 142 0.81 3 Raul 72 142 0.5 5 Robert Lewandowski 66 87 0.76 4 Karim Benzema 65 120 0.54 6 Ruud van Nistelrooy 56 73 0.77 7 Thierry Henry 50 112 0.45 8 Alfredo di Stefano 49 58 0.84 =9 Zlatan Ibrahimovic 48 120 0.4 =9 Andriy Shevchenko 48 100 0.63 =11 Eusebio 46 65 0.71 =11 Filippo Inzaghi 46 81 0.57 13 Didier Drogba 44 92 0.48 14 Thomas Muller 44 112 0.39 15 Alessandro Del Piero 42 89 0.47 16 Sergio Aguero 39 71 0.55 =17 Ferenc Puskas 35 41 0.85 =17 Neymar 35 57 0.61 =17 Edinson Cavani 35 62 0.56 20 Gerd Muller 34 35 0.95

*Correct as of August 8, 2020

**The list takes into consideration data from 1955-present

***Players in bold are still active

The composition of the all-time goalscorers list is mostly made up of players who are playing or played in the modern Champions League era (i.e. 1992 onwards) which has added more contintental games to the modern day calendar. Specifically, of the 20 players in the list above, 15 of them played from the mid 1990s on.

However, despite that, two players who played in the pre-Champions League era (when the tournament was known as the European Cup) still figure prominently, with former Real Madrid star Alfredo di Stefano and icon Eusebio featuring in and around the top 10.

Ferenc Puskas , who shone for Real Madrid in the 1950s and 1960s, is also in the top 20. Former striker Gerd Muller is in the top 20 and no player comes remotely close to his phenomenal goals-per-game ratio of 0.95.

Puskas boasted a goal-to-game ratio of 0.85 and Di Stefano's was 0.84, while Messi's is currently 0.82, which is undoubtedly the best in the modern era.