The top 11 Champions League knockout goalscorers: Mbappe, Messi, Ronaldo… | OneFootball

There’s a strong argument that the Champions League knockout rounds represent the pinnacle of modern football, where legends are made and broken – and a quick glance at the list of top scorers in the competition would prove that point.

With almost all of the top players in world football present, and an added sense of jeopardy often absent in today’s game, the knockout stages of the Champions League are often thrilling, dramatic and memorable affairs.

We’ve crunched the numbers and have listed the 11 players who ‘came up clutch’ and scored the most Champions League knockout goals.

=10. Filipo Inzaghi – 16 goals

The man Sir Alex Ferguson once quipped was ‘born offside’ could always be relied upon to poach some crucial goals, and the Italian striker scored 16 in the Champions League knockout rounds for Juventus and AC Milan.

His most memorable goals probably came against Liverpool in the 2007 final…

=10. Arjen Robben – 16 goals

Three things are certain in life: Death, taxes and Arjen Robben cutting in from the right flank and finding the top corner.

During his time at Bayern Munich, the winger perfected the art, and most of his Champions League knockout goals were carbon copy finishes.

But his most important goal in the competition came when he stepped up to score the winner against Borussia Dortmund in the 2013 final at Wembley.

9. Erling Haaland – 17 goals

Impressively, Haaland has managed to reach this tally in just 20 appearances, meaning he averages 0.85 knockout goals per game.

That’s a better ratio than anyone else on this list.

The Man City striker probably hasn’t played in as many knockout games as he would’ve liked after the starring role he played in lifting the trophy back in 2023, but you can be sure there’ll be plenty more in the years ahead.

=7. Andriy Shevchenko – 18 goals

Forget his terrible spell at Chelsea, Shevchenko was one of the world’s best strikers during his peak and provided fans across Europe with regular reminders of his prowess.

The Ukraine striker was part of a brilliant Dynamo Kyiv side that reached the 1999 semi-finals and, after joining AC Milan, carried on the goalscoring form that won him the 2004 Ballon d’Or award.

Shevchenko also scored the winning penalty against Juventus in the 2003 final at Old Trafford, ending one of the worst high-profile football matches of all time.

For that alone, we owe him a huge favour.

=7. Raul – 18 goals

During his 16 years in Real Madrid’s first team, Raul lifted three Champions Leagues and scored 15 goals in the knockout stages.

The former Spain international scored Madrid’s last goal in the 2000 final against Valencia and followed that up with the opener against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 final.

After leaving Madrid in 2010, he got three more knockout goals to help Schalke reach the Champions League semi-finals in 2011.

6. Kylian Mbappe – 26 goals

Mbappe is only 27 and surely has at least another seven or eight years in him at the top level. Up until this point, he’s already scored 70 Champions League goals – putting him sixth in the all-time list – with 26 of them coming in the knockout stages.

While he’s yet to win it, we’d be amazed if he doesn’t get his hands on a Champions League medal during his stint with Real Madrid.

We fully expect him to be up in the top three by the time he hangs up his boots. You never know, he might even catch the top two…

5. Thomas Muller – 27 goals

One of the most underrated players of the modern era, Muller has become renowned for his assists but still knows where the goal is.

The forward looked to have scored the winner in the 2012 Champions League final, only for Didier Drogba to score a late equaliser for Chelsea.

He then netted five goals in the knockout stages of their Champions League-winning campaign in 2013, including three in the 7-0 aggregate win over Barcelona.

Muller seems to particularly enjoy playing against the Spanish giants and also scored twice in Bayern’s 8-2 win over them in 2020.

4. Karim Benzema – 32 goals

Despite often being overshadowed by team-mates, Benzema played a key role in several of Real Madrid’s Champions League successes.

The France international scored a winner against Bayern Munich in the semi-final first leg in 2014 and got the equaliser against Napoli in the last-16 first leg in 2017. In the 2017-18 season, he scored a brace against Bayern in the semi-final first leg before netting the opener in the final win over Liverpool.

He went truly stratospheric in his latter years, peaking well into his thirties. He deservedly won the Ballon d’Or after his outrageous knockout heroics in 2021-22.

3. Robert Lewandowski – 36 goals

Only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have scored more goals in the history of Europe’s big five leagues. And only those two have scored more in the Champions League in general.

So it’s only fitting that the veteran Poland international is third in this list, proving that he’s the man for the big occasion and no flat-track bully.

That four-goal haul against Real Madrid in the 2012-13 semi-finals probably remains the pinnacle, but you’re never beating that, are you? And really, we can look back on it as a statement he was set to dominate Europe for years to come.

2. Lionel Messi – 49 goals

Since making his Champions League knockout debut against Chelsea in February 2006, Messi terrorised defences in Europe’s elite competition for almost two decades.

He scored 49 goals for Barcelona in the knockout stages, including that brilliant solo goal against Real Madrid and that chip against Bayern Munich.

Two of those 49 goals came in a final, as he scored a header against Manchester United in 2009 and a great strike against the same opponents two years later.

However, he failed to score in the knockout stages for PSG as they suffered round of 16 eliminations to Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in successive seasons.

His last knockout goals came home and away against PSG as Barcelona were eliminated by the French giants 5-2 on aggregate back in 2021.

Messi has almost certainly played his last match in the Champions League. But we can still dream of a romantic return to Europe.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo – 67 goals

It’s easy to forget that Ronaldo didn’t score a Champions League goal until his 26th outing – a brace in Manchester United’s 7-1 win over AS Roma in the quarter-finals in 2007.

But he hasn’t looked back since, lifting the trophy five times while becoming the all-time top goalscorer and appearance-maker in the competition’s history.

Sixty-seven of his 140 Champions League goals have come in the knockout stages, including strikes in the 2008, 2014 and 2017 finals.

You imagine his record will be safe for quite some time. Haaland and Mbappe have their work cut out if they’re ever to get anywhere close.