Champions League all-time top scorers: Can Mbappé or Haaland eclipse Ronaldo's record?

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Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland are widely regarded as two of the best players on the planet after taking over the mantle from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Mbappé and Haaland have soared to become the most valuable players in the world at €180 million, alongside Jude Bellingham, with Messi and Ronaldo reaching the epilogue of their careers.

The legendary duo collected 13 Ballon D’Ors during their illustrious careers as they battled for individual and collective honours for almost two decades. Messi and Ronaldo haven’t retired yet as they pursue lucrative opportunities at Inter Miami and Al-Nassr but they are no longer competing in the pinnacle tournament in club football - the Champions League. Messi and Ronaldo are comfortably the two top goalscorers in the competition’s history but could Mbappé or Haaland eclipse their records? 

Top five Champions League all-time top goalscorers (excluding qualifiers)

Ronaldo is the top goalscorer in Champions League history with 140 goals. The Portugal international scored 105 goals in the competition with Real Madrid, 21 with Manchester United and 14 with Juventus. Ronaldo impressively finished top scorer in the Champions League in seven campaigns and he recorded 0.79 goals per 90 in the competition across his career. Messi sits in second place with 129 goals but he averaged more goals per 90 (0.86) than Ronaldo. Messi scored 120 of his Champions League goals with Barcelona and he scored in 18 consecutive campaigns from the 2005/06 season.

While Ronaldo and Messi are highly unlikely to add to their goal tallies, Robert Lewandowski could still add to his 92 goals. Barcelona should qualify for next year’s competition and the Polish striker will have ambitions of becoming a centurion. Lewandowski is also Bayern Munich’s record European goalscorer with 69 goals. Karim Benzema could also feasibly add to his 90 goals in the competition with the 36-year-old reportedly targeting a return to Europe after becoming unhappy in Saudi Arabia. Benzema scored 15 goals in the competition as Real Madrid were crowned champions after beating Liverpool in the final in 2022. Raúl is the third former Real Madrid player in the top five with the Spanish legend netting 71 goals in the competition and he was the first ever player to reach 50 goals. 

Will Kylian Mbappe or Erling Haaland become the Champions League all-time top scorer?

Mbappé (44) has scored more goals than Haaland (43) in the Champions League but the Manchester City striker’s scoring rate is far superior. The Norwegian averages an incredible 1.28 goals per 90 minutes in the competition, compared to Mbappé (0.73). The PSG striker was the quickest player to reach 40 goals in the competition (59 games) before Haaland smashed his record by reaching the milestone in just 35 games.

Haaland has the best goals per 90 record in the history of the tournament and the 24-year-old will smash Ronaldo’s record if he continues to play in the Champions League for the next decade. Still just 25, Mbappe could also feasibly play in the competition for the next ten years and he could close in on Messi and Ronaldo’s totals but Haaland’s scoring rate means he’s the favourite to become the Champions League all-time top goalscorer during his career - Mbappé currently sits 14th in the top scorers list, with Haaland 18th. Both players will also benefit from the restructuring of the Champions League next season as there will be more games in the competition.