Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema scored his 40th and 41st Champions League goals for Los Blancos in a clash against APOEL Nicosia, joining only a select few to have bagged 40 or more goals for a single club in the competition.
Here are the six players to have achieved the feat so far…
6. Thomas Muller – 40
The clinical German striker has scored 40 goals in 94 Champions League games for Bayern Munich. He made his Champions League debut in 2009, scoring against Sporting CP in a 7-1 win.
Muller has played in three Champions League finals – the 2010 final, the 2012 final against Chelsea in which he opened the scoring and the 2013 final, the only one he has won.
Another impressive Champions League stat surrounding the German is that he was the youngest player ever to record 50 competition wins, at the age of 26 years and 72 days. Around 14 months younger than Lionel Messi.
5. Karim Benzema – 41
Real Madrid dismantled Apoel Nicosia 6-0 in the group stage of the Champions League on Tuesday night. Karim Benzema scored two of the goals, taking his tally to 41 Champions League goals for Real Madrid.
The Frenchman has made 79 Champions League appearances for Real Madrid, making his debut in the competition for the club in 2009 in a group stage tie against Marseille.
He has won the cup three times with Madrid in 2014, 2016 and 2017.
4. Alessandro Del Piero – 42
Alessandro Del Piero has scored 42 Champions League goals and all 42 were for the Old Lady, Juventus.
He scored one of the all time great Champions League goals against Dortmund in the 1997 final with an incredible backheel with his left foot, although Juventus actually lost that final 3-1.
Del Piero played in four Champions League finals – 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2003. The 1996 final against Ajax was the only one which he won, however.
Del Piero made 90 Champions League appearances between the years 1995 and 2009.
3. Raul – 66
The lethal Spanish striker Raul scored a whopping amount of Champions League goals; 71 to be exact and 66 of them came when he played for Real Madrid.
He played in three Champions League finals – 1998, 2000 and 2002 – winning all three and scoring in both the 2000 and 2002 finals. His final Champions League goal for Real Madrid came against AC Milan in a 3-2 group stage loss in 2009.
Raul is the 3rd highest European Cup goalscorer of all time and was at one point number one, but the next two entries on this list smashed his record.
2. Lionel Messi – 97
The Argentine magician is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time and it’s easy to see why with an astonishing 97 Champions League goals for Barcelona in 119 games.
He is the 2nd all time highest goal scorer in European Cup history, has the most Champions League hat-tricks with seven (shared with Cristiano Ronaldo), has the most Champions League group stage goals with 60, and has the most Champions League round of 16 goals with 21.
He has also won the competition four times, in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015, scoring in the 2009 and 2011 finals.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo – 98
Cristiano Ronaldo is the all time highest goal scorer in European Cup history with 114 goals. Out of those 114, 98 of them have been for Real Madrid.
98 goals for one team in the Champions League is phenomenal, but considering he has played 93 Champions League games for Real Madrid, it becomes almost supernatural.
Ronaldo also holds the most Champions League goals in a calendar year with 18 and after Tuesday’s demolition of APOEL, he became the third player in the Champions League era to score in each of the first five games of a season.
Along with Benzema, he has won three Champions league trophies with Real Madrid.
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