Kylian Mbappe just climbed past a legend. His 72nd Champions League goal — scored in Real Madrid's chaotic 4-3 win at Roma on October 14 — moved him above Raul into fifth on the all-time list. He got there in his 100th appearance, aged 27 years and 298 days, making him the youngest player to reach that milestone, breaking Messi's previous record.
That's the headline. But the more quietly staggering number belongs to Erling Haaland: 61 goals in 60 games. His brace against PSG in City's 4-2 home defeat means he's now the fastest player in history to 60 Champions League goals. Messi needed 80 games to get there. Haaland needed 60. He's barely getting started.
The top three, and why the gap matters
Cristiano Ronaldo sits at 141 goals — 12 clear of Messi's 129, and 32 ahead of Robert Lewandowski's 109. Those are the only three men to ever pass 100 in this competition. Ronaldo won the scoring title a record seven times and scored 68 goals after turning 30, a record Haaland and Mbappe would need another decade of elite form to threaten.
Messi's 120 goals for Barcelona alone is the most any player has scored for a single club in Champions League history. He hasn't played in the competition since Bayern knocked out PSG in the 2023 round of 16. That chapter is closed.
Lewandowski, now at Chicago Fire in MLS, finishes with 109 — including four goals in Dortmund's semi-final demolition of Real Madrid in 2013. He won it with Bayern in 2020, top-scored with 15 goals that season, and left European football having squeezed just about everything out of this competition.
Who's moving, who's staying put
Karim Benzema is fourth on 90 goals and almost certainly done adding to that tally. Raul, now sixth with 71, held the all-time record until Messi and Ronaldo overtook him in 2014. The Spaniard played his final Champions League football with Schalke in 2010-11 — a long time ago, but the number still holds up.
- Ruud van Nistelrooy — 60 goals (PSV, Man United, Real Madrid) — never won the trophy, three-time top scorer
- Andriy Shevchenko — 59 goals (Dynamo Kyiv, AC Milan) — won it in 2003, Ballon d'Or in 2004
- Harry Kane — 57 goals (Tottenham, Bayern Munich) — scored twice against Viking on October 13, now level with Thomas Muller
Kane's run of nine consecutive Champions League games with a goal is the kind of streak that reshapes outright top scorer markets for the rest of the league phase. He's also overtaken Messi for most goals scored after turning 30, with Ronaldo's record of 68 still the target at the summit.
The bottom half of this list will look different by Christmas. Haaland at 61, Mbappe at 72, Kane at 57 — three active players all within striking distance of Benzema's 90, with the league phase still in its early stages. Raul dropping out of the top five is just the first move.
