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The new season of the Champions League is upon us, as the 27th edition of the premier club competition in Europe gets underway on Tuesday.
Real Madrid heads into the tournament as the defending champions, having triumphed in last season's final by defeating Liverpool 3-1 to win the trophy for the third time in succession and 13th time overall.
The Champions League is undoubtedly the holy grail of European club football, and the biggest clubs in the world seek to prove their mettle in the competition, as victory in it earns prestige and bragging rights of being the best of the best in Europe.
The marquee nature of the participating clubs means that the biggest players would be on display, and with the quality involved, we are bound to witness exciting fixtures all through the competition.
It is a well-known fact that goals win games, and with some of the best strikers on the continent on the show, the race to be crowned the Champions League highest goalscorer would be an intense one.
Ronaldo's status as one of the greatest goal scorers in history, alongside the small matter of having won the UCL Golden Boot in each of the last six seasons and being the tournament's all-time highest goalscorer would see him installed as one of the favourites to win the award once more, while Messi's quest to regain prominence after his recent snubs for individual awards would also see him in among the contenders.
However, beyond this likely pair, there are more than enough other contenders for the Champions League Golden Boot. Here are the top ten candidates to be crowned UCL top scorer come May next year.
#10 Mauro Icardi
The 24-year-old has been one of the more consistent performers in the Italian Serie A over the last five seasons, scoring 100 league goals in 160 matches since his 2013 transfer to Inter Milan from Sampdoria in 2013.
The Inter Milan captain finished as joint top scorer of the Serie A in 2015 and 2018, which made his then continuous exclusion from the Argentine national team one that drew a lot of ire from fans and pundits alike.
His 29 goals last season proved immensely beneficial in helping Inter Milan to a fourth place finish, and he would be looking to display his superb finishing abilities on the continent, and win the Champions League Golden Boot.
For a player of Icardi's ability, this would only be his first participation in the Champions League, as Inter Milan's recent struggles saw them miss out on Champions League qualification for the last seven seasons, and the Nerrazurri find themselves in a group containing Barcelona and Tottenham.
Despite this being his bow in the competition, Icardi is bound to take to the stage like a fish to water, and the rest of Europe would do well to keep his goal scoring instincts at bay.
#9 Kylian Mbappe
The prodigiously talented Mbappe announced himself to the world with his breathtaking performance for Monaco in their fairytale run to the semi-final of the 2017 Champions League.
In that campaign, he became the first player to score in each of his first four Champions League knockout matches, as well as the youngest player in history to reach the milestones of five and ten goals scored in the competition.
He took his performance levels a notch higher, by delivering on the grandest stage of all; the World Cup where he became the first teenager since Pele in 1958 to score a brace in a World Cup match, as well as in the final itself.
Mbappe is the second most expensive player in history, and on his young shoulders lie some of the hope for leading PSG into European glory, and if PSG is to lift its first Champions League trophy, then Mbappe would have a crucial role to play in that.
#8 Marco Asensio
The 8th contender for the Champions League Golden Boot is Marco Asensio. Long touted as the next big thing in Spanish football, the 22-year-old Marco Asensio made his dream move to Real Madrid from Mallorca in 2014, but found first-team opportunities hard to come by with the presence of more established players ahead of him in the dressing room, consequently undergoing loan transfers to Espanyol and Mallorca over the next two seasons.
He returned to the club in 2016, and despite sporadic appearances managed to play a role in each of Real Madrid's Champions League triumphs of the last two seasons, including in the final of 2017 against Juventus where he scored a goal.
Quick, skilful and possessing a blistering shot, Ronaldo's departure to Real Madrid means that Asensio would get to see more playing time, and it is believed that this would be the season where he would truly break out.
With Real Madrid all but guaranteed to make a push to the latter stages of the competition, Marco would get his fair share of opportunities to bang in the goals and have a say in the discussions for the Champions League Golden Boot.
#7 Luis Suarez
The Uruguay record goalscorer has won the Golden Boot in three different leagues across Europe (Eredivisie, Premier League and La Liga), but is yet to be crowned the top marksman in Europe.
Suarez has suffered a drop in form in recent seasons, and recently went over a year without a Champions League goal before breaking his duck against AS Roma in the quarter-final first leg last season, so ranking him as the 7th contender for the Champions League Golden Boot seems a bit of a far shot. However, despite his struggles, he still has the reputation of being one of the best strikers in the world.
Barcelona has not won the Champions League since 2015, and the fact that each of the tournaments since then has been won by their eternal rivals Real Madrid would make triumphing in the 'Big Ears' the utmost priority for the Blaugrana, and Lionel Messi alongside Luis Suarez would be tasked with leading the charge from the attacking front, and if Suarez should hit top form, then Barcelona has a real shot at winning the Champions League for the sixth time in their history.
#6 Mo Salah
In what was absolutely inconceivable at the beginning of last season, Mo Salah had one of the greatest debut seasons in footballing history. The 25-year-old Egyptian broke a plethora of scoring records, including that for most goals in a 38-game season, with his 32 Premier League goals in an eventual 44 goal haul winning him the EPL Golden Boot as well as the prestigious PFA and PWA Player of the Year awards.
He was instrumental in guiding Liverpool to her first Champions League final since 2007, as his 10 goals proved crucial as did his emphatic performances throughout the season. He also scored the dying minute goal which helped Egypt qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1990.
After a summer of heavy transfer activities, Liverpool would seek to build on the gains made last season, and if the Reds are to make inroads in Europe, Mo Salah's goals would be instrumental in helping them achieve their goals.
#5 Harry Kane
Harry Kane has been the standout centre-forward in Europe over the last four seasons, and remarkably outscored both Messi and Ronaldo in the 2017 calendar year.
He won the Premier League Golden Boot in consecutive seasons of 2016 and 2017, and but for an unfortunate injury might well have made in three on the trot last season (where he finished two goals behind eventual winner Mo Salah).
The 25-year-old also extended his goalscoring instinct to the national team, where he captained England to the semi-final for the first time since 1990, winning the World Cup Golden Boot in the process.
Having led the way in the race for the Champions League Golden Boot for most of last season before being usurped by Ronaldo, Harry Kane is no stranger to performing on the grand stages, and despite being drawn in a tough group also containing Barcelona and Inter Milan, Harry Kane can still be counted on to deliver the goods.
#4 Robert Lewandowski
The Poland captain had been the subject of numerous transfer speculations in recent transfer windows, after coming under heavy fire from the Bayern board for criticizing the club's ambition due to it's inactivity in the transfer market.
Lewandowski was constantly linked with a move away from the Allianz Arena, with Real Madrid and Manchester United touted as possible destinations. However, all indications suggest that is largely an issue of the past, and Lewa is now fully focused on the task at hand.
Bayern Munich are one of the traditional heavyweights of European football, having triumphed in the continent's biggest club prize a total of five times, but they are currently on a bit of a barren run, failing to make the final since 2013.
The club is an undeniable juggernaut domestically, having won each of the last six Bundesliga league titles, so the Bavarians would be desperate to stamp their authority on Europe, and Lewandowski himself would be keen to lead their charge, as he is yet to taste UCL glory, painfully being a losing finalist to Bayern in 2013 with former club Borussia Dortmund.
#3 Neymar
The 26-year-old Brazilian has long been touted as the heir apparent to Ronaldo and Messi's throne, and it was believed to be only a matter of time before the Brazilian won a Ballon d'Or, as his performances were considered to be only behind the extra-ordinary pair.
Staying at Barcelona meant he would always be in the shadow of Lionel Messi, as no matter what he did, the Argentine would take the glory, with an example being in the aftermath of Barcelona's dramatic comeback victory over PSG where Messi grabbed all the headlines, despite Neymar being the chief architect of the victory.
However, things have not gone to plan since Neymar's world record transfer to the French capital. He put in a subpar performance in the first leg of PSG's biggest test of the season against Real Madrid, while a broken metatarsal before the second leg meant his first season ended prematurely without having the sort of impact PSG owners craved when he was signed.
Things further capitulated at the World Cup in Russia, as Brazil underperformed with Neymar the subject of media criticisms, as he failed to live up to expectations, spending more time on the field rolling with theatrics than making an impact on the field.
There are even suggestions that teenage sensation Kylian Mbappe is the new star of the Parisiens, a notion which Neymar would be eager to dispel, and a major way to achieve that would be by winning the UCL Golden Boot (like he did in 2015).
Despite his shenanigans, on his day, Neymar is still one of the best players in the world, make no mistake about that, and with PSG desperate to make a mark on the Champions League after the billions invested in personnel, Neymar would be the player tasked with leading their march.
#2 Lionel Messi
After the highs experienced in his career between 2009 and 2012, 'La Pulga Atomica' has suffered a bit of a lull (by his extremely high standards) in recent seasons.
He has not won the UCL Golden Boot since 2012, while Ronaldo has overtaken him in the scoring charts in what was once inconceivable owing to the healthy lead Messi had over his rival. The same applies to the Ballon d'Or where they are tied on 5 apiece from a 4-1 advantage to Messi in 2012.
Barcelona have not triumphed in the Champions League since 2015, knocked out in embarrassing fashion in each of the last three editions at the quarter-final stage, with eternal rivals Real Madrid jarringly going on to win each tournament.
Barcelona would seek to reassert their dominance on the continent, and with Lionel Messi leading the charge, don't bet against it happening.
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo
There can only be one favorite for the Champions League Golden Boot. 'Mr Champions League' himself Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Portuguese has long since established himself as one of the greatest goalscorers in the history of the game, however in the Champions League, he becomes almost super human and scores goals at alarming rates.
He is the all-time record goalscorer with 120 goals, and even more remarkably has finished on top of the scoring charts, and won the Golden Boot (tied with Messi and Neymar in 2015) in each of the last six editions of the Champions League.
He is also the only player to have scored 15 goals in a single campaign (which he has done on three occasions), and holds the record for most consecutive Champions League matches scored in (eleven).
Both Real Madrid and Manchester United benefitted from his performances by triumphing in the Champions League, and it is a path Juventus would also like to tow, and with 'Mr Champions League' within their ranks, it is a genuine possibility.
