Cristiano Ronaldo aka Mr Champions League holds the record for the most goals scored in the UEFA Champions League knockout stage.
The UEFA Champions League knockout stages are upon us, and Europe’s top 16 teams are already competing for continental supremacy.
The round of 16 of the 2021/22 Champions League began on February 16 (IST) with a high-profile match between Real Madrid and Paris Saint-German (PSG), followed by a match between last season’s finalists Manchester City and Sporting Lisbon on the same day.
The knockout stages of the Champions League are always high-pressure circumstances, and it takes exceptional players to assist a club overcome the obstacles that Europe’s premier club competition presents at this level.
Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United is the all-time leading goalscorer in the Champions League, with 140 goals in 181 games. Out of the 141 goals, 67 were scored in the tournament’s knockout rounds in 80 appearances, which is also a record.
Cristiano Ronaldo is closely followed by Lionel Messi, who has 125 goals in 154 games and 49 goals in the knockout rounds.
After Ronaldo and Messi, Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller of Bayern Munich have scored 26 and 24 goals in the knockout stages, respectively, and 82 and 50 goals overall.
Karim Benzema, a former Real Madrid teammate, is the other active player on the list of highest goal scorers in UCL knockouts.
The top ten highest goal scorers in the Champions League knockout stages are shown below.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Goals: 67
Matches: 80
Goals/game ratio: 0.83
Lionel Messi
Goals: 49
Matches: 73
Goals/game ratio: 0.67
Robert Lewandowski
Goals: 26
Matches: 38
Goals/game ratio: 0.68
Thomas Muller
Goals: 24
Matches: 57
Goals/game ratio: 0.42
Karim Benzema
Goals: 20
Matches: 54
Goals/game ratio: 0.34
Raul
Goals: 18
Matches: 46
Goals/game ratio: 0.39
Andriy Shevchenko
Goals: 18
Matches: 32
Goals/game ratio: 0.56
Arjen Robben
Goals: 16
Matches: 30
Goals/game ratio: 0.54
Filipo Inzaghi
Goals: 16
Matches: 30
Goals/game ratio: 0.54
Frank Lampard
Goals: 15
Matches: 52
Goals/game ratio: 0.29
