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#3 Cristiano Ronaldo | Juventus
Cristiano Ronaldo's achievements in the UEFA Champions League are otherworldly, to say the least. The Portuguese superstar is one of the greatest players the competition has ever witnessed and leads the charts for most goals, assists, final appearances (six, along with Paulo Maldini), and a host of other statistics.
What makes Ronaldo one of the best players in football, apart from the fact that he's the highest scorer in European history, is his ability to deliver in the bigger games. Ronaldo has made a name for himself as one of the most clutch players in the sport with a host of important and defining goals for Portugal, Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Juventus.
With 25 goals in 22 quarter-finals, 13 in 21 semi-finals, and four in six finals, the 36-year-old is the most prolific player in the knockout stages of the Champions League. This includes hat-tricks against Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid on two occasions, Wolfsburg, among other clubs.
CR7 also has a host of crucial hat-tricks on the international stage against the likes of Spain, Sweden and a Nations League semi-final treble Switzerland among other memorable displays. His goals also helped Portugal reach the UEFA Euro final in 2016, which was Portugal's first piece of silverware.
Perhaps he could have found himself higher up this list if Juventus' knockout fixtures in the recent past against Olympique Lyon, FC Porto, and AFC Ajax panned out differently. Irrespective of the fact that his powers appear to be waning at the age of 36, Ronaldo has already gone down as one of the greatest big-game players the sport has ever seen.
#2 Sergio Ramos | Real Madrid
Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos is the only defender to make it to this list, and that alone speaks volumes of his big-game credentials. He may be known for his infamous record of 26 red cards, the most for any player since 2000, but there is so much more to Ramos. The Spanish centre-back is widely regarded as one of the best defenders to ever play the game and he has won every possible trophy available to him throughout his career, including a World Cup and two Euros with Spain.
The Blancos were blessed with an attacking trio of dreams with Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, and Karim Benzema, but when they appeared to be down and out, it was their majestic centre-back who bailed them out with some of the most sublime displays in Champions League history.
Ramos has played 56 knockout games in the UCL over his career, during which he's scored seven goals — the most of any defender in the competition. And they weren't just goals to add further gloss to a comfortable scoreline as the Spaniard's strikes were crucial to Real Madrid's golden era European era, which saw them win four titles in five years.
The Real Madrid captain's crowning moment was his equalising goal in the 2014 UCL final against Atletico Madrid. The Blancos were just seconds away from losing their first European final since 1983, and as the clock read 92:48, Ramos rose to the occasion (literally) to bring Real Madrid back into the game. They eventually won the final 4-1 to bring home La Decima, ending a nine-year drought. He replicated this feat in 2016 in the Supercup final with an equalising header in the 34th second of the 92nd minute.
Throw in another UCL final goal against Atleti in 2016, two knockout stage goals against Bayern Munich in the 2014 semi-final along a host of accomplished defensive displays into the mix and it isn't hard to see why Ramos is one of the greatest big-game players of all time. The old cliche 'cometh the hour, cometh the man' has never been more true.
#1 Kylian Mbappe | Paris Saint-Germain
It would take something truly spectacular for a 22-year-old to top a list of players including the likes of Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo, and that's exactly what Kylian Mbappe is. Specuactular.
The French superstar has established himself as one of the best players in world football since breaking onto the scene as a young talent at AS Monaco. Since his famous 2016/17 campaign, Mbappe has gone on to become the second-most expensive footballer ever and fired France to the World Cup.
The 22-year-old went became the first-ever player to score a UCL knockout stage hat-trick against Barcelona at the Nou Camp in February in a stunning 4-1 win. With his penalty in the reverse fixture, he's the first player to put four past the Blaugrana in a UCL tie. Mbappe's most recent brace against Bayern in the quarter-finals helped him surpass Thierry Henry's knockout stage tally in the competition.
Mbappe was also the youngest-ever scorer in a UCL semi-final as he found the back of Juventus' net at the age of 18. Overall, he's been involved in 16 goals (13 goals and three assists) in just 18 European knockout fixtures, including goals at the Etihad Stadium, Old Trafford, Camp Nou, Santiago Bernabeu, Allianz Arena, Juventus Stadium, and the Signal Iduna Park.
The PSG forward became the first player in 60 years (!) to score two goals in a World Cup game when he smashed Argentina in 2018 and the third teenager to score in a World Cup final, both since Brazilian great Pele. Mbappe is undoubtedly a player born to play on the biggest stages the game has to offer and, going by his displays so far, he's at his best when the lights shine brightest.
Also read: Top 10 strikers in the world this season (2020/21)
