RANKED! The 20 highest-scoring Champions League players ever

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first Champions League goal for Manchester United in more than 12 years last night, when he put the Red Devils ahead in Switzerland.

While the result didn’t go United’s way, the goal was enough for the Portugal forward to extend his lead at the top of the competition’s all-time top scorers list.

However, despite scoring more than anyone else in Europe’s top competition, including those who played their football when it was still the European Cup, Ronaldo doesn’t have the best goals per game record...

Here’s how the United man compares to the others.

20. Gerd Muller - 34

Years: 1969-77 Clubs: Bayern Munich Games: 35 Goals to game ratio: 0.97

It’s no surprise to see the lethal German striker hold the best goals to game ratio of any player on this list, and indeed of any player in the top 50 Champions League scorers.

REMEMBERING DER BOMBER From fat jokes to the Ballon d'Or: How Gerd Müller became "Muhammad Ali of the penalty box"

Der Bomber lead Bayern to three European titles, scoring in the final replay in 1974 and netting the following year to ensure the Bavarian club got the trophy wrapped up at the first time of asking.

19. Edinson Cavani - 35

Years: 2011-present Clubs: Napoli, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United Games: 65 Goals to game ratio: 0.54

Cavani is yet to open his Champions League account for Manchester United, though he did net in last season’s Europa League final defeat. The Uruguayan’s goals in Europe’s top competition mostly came in a PSG shirt, including six in the group stage alone in 2016-17, and he may have been able to climb higher up the list had he not waited so long for his Champions League bow.

18. Ferenc Puskas - 36

Years: 1956-66 Clubs: Budapest Honved, Real Madrid Games: 41 Goals to game ratio: 0.88

Real Madrid and Hungary legend Puskas can point to a phenomenal 1959-60 campaign, where his 12 goals in seven games included a hat-trick in the first round and four in the final. However he’s also a rarity in having netted a hat-trick in a defeat, when Madrid came up short against Eusebio’s Benfica in the semi-final two years later.

17. Sergio Aguero - 41

Years: 2008-present Clubs: Atlético Madrid, Manchester City, Barcelona Games: 78 Goals to game ratio: 0.53

While Aguero missed out on a European title last term, coming on as a late substitute in the final, his best years at Manchester City involved Champions League disappointment.

RICH JOLLY Why Sergio Aguero was part of a core group that turned Manchester City into winning machines

The Argentine scored two hat-tricks in the 2016-17 campaign, his first under Pep Guardiola, but as he waits for a European bow for Barcelona he may feel his best shot at glory has passed.

16. Neymar - 41

Years: 2013-present Clubs: Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain Games: 69 Goals to game ratio: 0.59

While Neymar has been unable to lead Paris Saint-Germain to a European title, he still has his victory with Barcelona in 2015 to fall back on, not to mention a better goalscoring ratio than Benzema and Raul to name but two. The Brazilian has yet to hit more than 6 in one European campaign for PSG, but the arrival of Lionel Messi in Paris could change that.

Discover deals on PSG's home 21/22 home shirt

15. Alessandro Del Piero - 42

Years: 1995-2009 Clubs: Juventus Games: 89 Goals to game ratio: 0.47

Juve legend Del Piero scored European goals in 12 separate seasons, with the peak coming in 1997/98. The World Cup winner netted Juve’s first and last goal in that year’s competition, helping the Bianconeri reach the final with an enviable record of 10 goals in 10 games - including a decisive semi-final hat-trick against Monaco.

14. Didier Drogba - 44

Years: 2003-15 Clubs: Marseille, Chelsea, Galatasaray Games: 92 Goals to game ratio: 0.48

Drogba didn’t just score a lot of goals - he scored big ones too.

LONG READ Didier Drogba's last dance: How Chelsea's talisman delivered the Champions League

The equalising goal and winning penalty in 2012 stand out above everything else, and a hat-trick for Marseille helped him announce himself in 2003, but Chelsea fans may also be inclined to wonder whether they might have finished as champions in 2008 without his red card in the final.

=12. Filippo Inzaghi - 46

Years: 1997-2012 Clubs: Juventus, AC Milan Games: 81 Goals to game ratio: 0.57

The poacher’s poacher, Inzaghi was an asset to both of his clubs in Europe and played his part in two title wins in the red and black of Milan. There were fewer players you’d rather see the ball drop to in the six-yard box, and the Italy international’s goal return - highlighted by a match-winning display in the 2007 final - is testament to that.

=12. Eusebio - 46

Years: 1961-74 Clubs: Benfica Games: 65 Goals to game ratio: 0.71

The old European Cup format meant there were fewer unimportant games, and Eusebio’s first season in the competition saw him score a decisive double in the final. He also netted in every round besides the final in 1967/68, when Benfica got within one game of being crowned champions of Europe for a second time in his spell.

11. Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 48

Years: 2001-present Clubs: Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United Games: 120 Goals to game ratio: 0.40

When Ibrahimovic next takes to the pitch for a Champions League game, more than 20 years will have passed since his bow in the competition for Ajax against a Celtic side managed by Martin O’Neill.

Man Utd are the only team for whom he played in the competition without scoring (albeit just for 16 minutes), while a high-point came in 2013-14 when he scored at a rate of better than a goal per game for PSG.

Discover deals on Serie A 21/22 shirts

10. Andriy Shevchenko - 48

Years: 1994-2012 Clubs: Dynamo Kyiv, AC Milan, Chelsea Games: 100 Goals to game ratio: 0.48

While Chelsea fans won’t have especially great memories of Shevchenko in front of goal, the same can’t be said for supporters in Ukraine and Italy.

QUIZ! Can you name every player with 100 or more Champions League appearances?

One Champions League title could have been two were it not for some Jerzy Dudek heroics in 2005, and he was the star of a Dynamo side which came perilously close to making the 1999 final.

=8. Thomas Muller - 49

Years: 2008-present Clubs: Bayern Munich Games: 125 Goals to game ratio: 0.39

Müller’s tally isn’t too shabby for a man who hasn’t spent his entire career as a striker, and more than a decade has passed since he opened his European account in a last-16 win over Sporting. He has notably netted semi-final goals in two separate runs to glory, as well as scoring in the 2012 final as Bayern lost to Chelsea on penalties.

=8. Alfredo di Stefano - 49

Years: 1955-64 Clubs: Real Madrid Games: 58 Goals to game ratio: 0.84

A legend of the early European Cup years, Di Stéfano has the third-best goals to game ratio of anyone on this list. His 49 goals included plenty of very important ones as Real Madrid dominated on the continent, including a winning goal in the 1957 final and a hat-trick as Los Blancos beat Eintracht Frankfurt to lift the trophy in 1960.

7. Thierry Henry - 50

Years: 1997-2012 Clubs: Monaco, Arsenal, Barcelona Games: 112 Goals to game ratio: 0.45

Despite scoring freely domestically, Henry’s European exploits were more spread out, never resulting in more than seven goals in a single Champions League season.

EUROPE The 10 best teams that DIDN'T win the Champions League

Looking back on his career, he might feel as though a single European trophy is less than he warranted, though he’ll always have that performance for Arsenal at the San Siro.

6. Ruud van Nistelrooy - 56

Years: 1998-2009 Clubs: PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, Real Madrid Games: 71 Goals to game ratio: 0.77

One of the best finishers of his generation, Van Nistelrooy didn’t let at least one serious injury get in the way of a phenomenal record in front of goal. The Dutchman is the highest-placed member of this list not to win the competition, and indeed he only once made it further than the quarter-final stage for any of his clubs.

Discover deals on Manchester United shirts

5. Raul - 71

Years: 1995-2011 Clubs: Real Madrid, Schalke Games: 142 Goals to game ratio: 0.50

There was a period when it looked unlikely anyone would overtake Raul’s tally, with the Spaniard peaking in 1999-2000 when he finished as joint-top scorer in the competition with 10 goals.

REAL MADRID Graham Hunter: "I’m not certain Carlo Ancelotti considers this a medium-term project - let alone a long-term project"

His final strike in the competition came in Schalke colours, in a surprise knockout win over Inter Milan, before he ended his career away from Europe.

4. Karim Benzema

Years: 2005-present Clubs: Lyon, Real Madrid Games: 130 Goals to game ratio: 0.55

Benzema was still a few days shy of his 18th birthday when he scored for Lyon against Rosenborg in the 2005-06 group stage, and his most recent goal in the competition - for Real Madrid against Chelsea - came at the age of 33. That’s longevity for you, and the Frenchman will feel confident of adding to his tally.

3. Robert Lewandowski

Years: 2011-present Clubs: Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich Games: 97 Goals to game ratio: 0.76

Lewandowski’s star turn came against Real Madrid in 2013, when he scored all four for Dortmund in a semi-final victory. The Polish striker had to wait until he was 23 to even play in the Champions League for the first time, and one wonders how many more goals he might have been able to score with an earlier start.

2. Lionel Messi - 120

Years: 2005-present Clubs: Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain Games: 149 Goals to game ratio: 0.81

Messi has fewer Champions League goals than Ronaldo, but no player from the post-1992 era has a better goals to game ratio than the Argentine.

MESSI CHATS TO FFT The 14 best moments of my career

A four-goal performance against Arsenal in 2010 and five of the seven which Barca scored against Bayer Leverkusen two years later are just a couple of the memorable European nights he enjoyed at Camp Nou.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo - 135

Years: 2003-present Clubs: Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus Games: 177 Goals to game ratio: 0.76

It’s odd to think it took Ronaldo until his third United season to score in the Champions League, netting in the play-off win over Debrecen, but it was in Madrid where he really thrived.

A personal high-point came in the 2016/17 season, when he scored hat-tricks for Real Madrid in the quarter-final and semi-final en route to lifting the trophy.

Boost your game with the best football kit deals on Amazon right now!