The long-awaited 2022/23 UEFA Champions League tournament kicks off on Tuesday, September 6, 2022, without the tournament’s most decorated player, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Several football clubs enjoyed a wonderful night with the most anticipated results to begin their new tournament season, yet several underperformed for their supporters.
For example, Chelsea’s 2022/2023 Champions League season opened with a defeat to Dinamo Zagreb.
Due to Manchester United’s terrible performance last season, which resulted in their finishing in sixth place, Cristiano Ronaldo will not be playing in the greatest game in Europe this year.
The Portuguese legend still has the most records in the competition even if he will be watching the Champions League this season from home.
Cristiano Ronaldo is regarded by many as one of the greatest players in football history, and his performance in the Champions League demonstrates this point.
The Manchester United forward’s collection of Eight tournament records attests to how much he appears to enjoy the chance to compete in the UCL.
At 140 goals in the Champions League, Ronaldo owns the record, but amazingly, he didn’t score until his fourth season with Man United.
He also owns the record for most assists. He outperforms Lionel Messi, the next best player, in both this metric and goals scored.
There are differing estimates for the total number of assists the Portuguese great has; some sources suggest he has 48, while others believe he has 42.
As long as we’re talking about goals, Ronaldo also holds the competition record for both hat-tricks and braces.
He shares a hat trick total of eight goals with Messi, seven of which he scored while playing for Real Madrid. This total is three more than the next-best player, Robert Lewandowski, who has five hat tricks.
Ronaldo earned his 38th brace in the Champions League for Man United against Atalanta in the group stage, putting him just four behind Messi in terms of the number of such feats.
Due to his 17 goals in the 2013–14 season, the 37-year-old also owns the record for the most goals scored by a player in a single Champions League season.
With 16 goals in two more seasons the 15/16 and 17/18 seasons, both of which Madrid won the Champions League Ronaldo also occupies the second and third spots on this list.
It is also amazing how long he has lived. Additionally, he shares the record for having 38 opponents scored against with none other than Messi.
But in the end, what good are goals and assists if a player can’t use them to win matches and championships? Well, Ronaldo has also accomplished that.
With 113 victories, he holds the record for the most Champions League victories. His former teammate Iker Casillas is the only other player to have 100 victories, though it’s possible that having played the most games also contributed to this.
Also not one to back down from a major moment, Ronaldo. With five victories, he has the most in the competition’s history.
After they defeated Liverpool in this season’s competition, several of his Madrid colleagues, including Dani Carvajal, Karim Benzema, and Luka Modric, share the record for most Champions League winners’ medals (5) in the 21st century.
Paco Gento, a former star for Real Madrid, holds the record for the most overall championships, with six.
Along with Ronaldo, up to 17 other players have won five Champions League championships.
Ronaldo has several further records to his name, making it impossible to contest his claim to be the greatest player to ever play in the Champions League, for the time being, at least.
As still stands currently, Ronaldo may not compete in the 2022-2023 Champions League after a disappointing season for Man United and may instead participate in the Europa League, a competition he has never participated in.
