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UEFA Champions League is football's Holy Grail. Many legendary names in the sport have etched their names in Europe's premier club tournament, some by becoming prolific scorers on the highest stage.
In the last decade, these five players have been the most prolific in the UEFA Champions League:
#5 Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich) - 42 goals
Not the name you were expecting in the top five, right? But the fact is, Thomas Muller was once a prolific scorer for Bayern Munich in Europe. He's only transitioned into a more creative role in the last few years.
Even then, with 42 goals in the Champions League, the Raumdeuter ranks fifth in the list of the competition's highest scorers of the last decade, narrowly edging past Neymar.
His exploits in the past have played a key role in Bayern's impressive European run, netting eight times in the 2012/13 season when they clinched their first treble, and another eight times during the 2015/16 campaign as the Bavarians went out in the semi-finals.
However, Muller's goalscoring output has significantly declined in recent years, and he has netted only six times in the past three Champions League seasons combined, although he ranks above everyone else in the squad in terms of goals created.
#4 Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) - 52 goals
A name that's on the all-time list too, Karim Benzema ranks fourth with 71 goals, level with former teammate and Real Madrid legend Raul. So it's only a matter of time before he makes the position his own.
Some of these goals have come with Lyon, his first club, but in the last decade, the French striker has been at the forefront of Madrid's exploits in Europe, netting 52 times from the 2011/12 season onwards.
Playing alongside more glamorous stars might have led to him being eclipsed often, but Benzema boasts a great goalscoring record in the competition. He's scored at least four times in these past 10 seasons, with his personal best being seven in the 2011/12 season.
If you'd ask him, Benzema would say his most important goal was certainly the one he scored against Liverpool in the 2018 finals.
#3 Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich) - 73 goals
If there's one player who's challenged the Cristiano Ronaldo-Lionel Messi duopoly when it comes to scoring goals, it's Robert Lewandowski, who's transformed into an absolute beast with Bayern Munich.
While his best returns have obviously come in the Bundesliga, where he's been smashing record after record, the Polish ace has successfully carried that form into Europe too, scoring in abundance.
He's netted 73 goals in the last 10 Champions Leagues in just 96 games!
He scored 18 times for Borussia Dortmund in 36 games. His average has shot up to 0.82 in the last seven years with Bayern, whom he helped clinch their sixth title last year by scoring 15 goals in the 2019/20 Champions League season.
#2 Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - 83 goals
Barcelona are no longer the European force they used to be, but at the start of the last decade, no team wanted to play them. Such was their dominance. At the heart of it all was, of course, Lionel Messi.
He's won the Champions League only once since the 2011/12 season and reached the semi-finals the same number of times since their sixth triumph in 2015, an indication of how the mighty have fallen.
But the Barcelona wizard hasn't. In fact, he's still the face of this side, as much in the Champions League as he's in La Liga, and has scored 83 European goals for them in the last decade.
Nobody even comes close. Luis Suarez is a distant second in the competition for the club during that period with 25 goals.
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, Juventus) - 106 goals
No surprises here. Cristiano Ronaldo has become synonymous with the Champions League.
He's made the competition his own with his unreal goalscoring feats, having also lifted the big ol' ears five times in his illustrious career, four of them coming in the last decade alone.
With 106 goals - a stunning 23 more than his Argentine rival - it's clear that Ronaldo is in a league of his own.
He was particularly unstoppable during each of Real Madrid's four title victories, even setting the record for the most goals in a season with 17 during the 'La Decima' success of 2013/14 season.
However, since joining Juventus in 2018, Ronaldo's average has dramatically dropped, as he's scored only 14 times in three Champions League seasons with the Serie A giants, who haven't pulled up trees despite having him in the squad.
