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The Champions League has always been a prestigious tournament to play in. It gets even better for teams when they are able to win the title. Many top clubs and players have had the pleasure of winning it in their careers.
Among the players to have won the Champions League, there have been some great goal-scorers. These players have done exceedingly well at both the club and national level.
The Champions League always had great quality goal-scorers
It is not an easy task to do well at both the club and country level. With a reputation for scoring goals time and again, there is certainly an immense level of pressure to live up to.
Yet some legendary players have done so with utter ease. In the process, they have won the Champions League and at the same time broken records at national level. On that note, let's take a look at the top players who are record goal-scorers for their country and also won the Champions League.
#5 Luis Suarez
Controversies and achievements have always gone hand-in-hand for Luis Suarez but there is no denying the world class qualities he possesses. The Uruguayan striker is one of the best strikers in the world when on song.
Luis Suarez has played for some of the top clubs in his football career but his time at Barcelona has to be his best so far. He signed for the Catalan club in 2014 and was stunning for them. He has scored 195 goals in 283 appearances across all competitions. Suarez played a big role in helping them win the Treble in the 2014-15 season, scoring 25 goals and assisting 23 in 43 appearances.
The former Liverpool striker has also done pretty well with his national team. Luis Suarez has scored 63 goals in 127 appearances for Uruguay. He also won the Copa America with the national side in 2011.
#4 Ferenc Puskas
Ferenc Puskas is regarded as one of the best players of his generation and a legendary one in the history of Real Madrid. He won five La Liga titles in his eight seasons with the Spanish giants.
With Los Blancos, he ended up as La Liga's highest goal-scorer in four seasons. The Hungarian striker had a terrific club career, scoring 514 goals in 530 matches. He won the Champions League, then known as the European Cup, three times with Real Madrid.
At the national level, Ferenc Puskas scored 84 goals in 85 appearances for Hungary, the all-time top scorer for his country. He also won the Summer Olympics in 1952 and ended up as a runner-up in the 1954 FIFA World Cup.
#3 Robert Lewandowski
In the last decade, the Champions League has seen a number of world-class players and Robert Lewandowski is arguably one of them. The Polish striker, with his amazing goal-scoring abilities, has been a delight to watch.
Ever since he signed for Bayern Munich from Borussia Dortmund in 2014, Robert Lewandowski has been a phenomenal act in front of goal. To date, the Polishman has scored 324 goals in 354 appearances for the Bavarian club. He won the Champions League with them in the 2019-20 season, scoring 15 goals in that campaign.
At the national level, despite Poland not being a superior side more often than not, Robert Lewandowski has managed to score 74 goals in 128 appearances. He even came close to winning the Ballon d'Or twice. Last season it got canceled due to Covid-19 and this season, he closely missed out to Lionel Messi. It would be amazing to watch him win the Ballon d'Or one day given his fabulous performances over the past few years.
#2 Lionel Messi
Words do not suffice to describe the greatness of Lionel Messi. The left-footed forward has been outstanding throughout his football career, especially at club level.
It was surprising to see the Argentine leave Barcelona after spending 17 years with the Catalan club this summer. It was with them that he won the Champions League four times. It goes without saying that he played a massive role in winning the tournament on the different occasions they did. Having scored more than 750 senior career goals, there is almost nothing that Lionel Messi has not achieved.
Since the Copa America triumph in 2021, the Argentine has silenced his critics who doubted his influence with the national team. Lionel Messi has scored 80 goals in 158 appearances for Argentina and is their greatest goal-scorer ever.
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo has had a marvelous football career and it is impressive how he is still going so strong at the age of 36. With his hunger to win and always fighting back, the Portuguese captain is an idol for many aspiring footballers.
As far as his club career is concerned, Cristiano Ronaldo has been successful in England, Spain and Italy. In his fascinating career, he has won the Champions League with both Manchester United and Real Madrid. With United he has won once and with Los Blancos, he has won the tournament four times.
His achievements with the Portuguese national team are no less. Cristiano Ronaldo has won the 2016 Euro and the 2018 UEFA Nations League. He is the country's top goalscorer with 115 goals in 184 appearances, the most international goals by a male player.
