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The Champions League is the most prestigious competitions in the world of club football. Over the years, it has seen more than its fair share of amazing goal scorers.
Thus, an old saying goes like "goals win you games". That will always hold true and it remains one of the biggest reasons why strikers grab most of the headlines. But as football is a team sport, there is a lot of work that goes down on a football pitch which helps strikers eventually score those all-important goals.
There are players create space and put in the final balls for the strikers to put it in the back of the net. These assistors don't get the credit that they deserve but are the backbone of a team. A team's goalscoring ability depends on how good their playmakers are.
So in this list, we look at 5 such players who have set up the most goals in the UEFA Champions League till date:
All the Stats have been taken from www.statbunker.com
#5 Zlatan Ibrahimovic (22)
With 22 assists in the Champions League, Zlatan just makes the cut ahead of Real Madrid's Karim Benzema (20). One of the true entertainers of the game, Zlatan is the only player to have played in the Champions League with 7 different teams: Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, PSG and Manchester United.
Along with his 22 assists, Zlatan has scored 48 goals. Despite such wonderful records, Ibra has never been able to win the coveted trophy. Still, he remains one of the most decorated players in European football as he is the only player to have won 13 league titles in four different countries.
He is 9th on the list of most appearances in Champions League with 120 games to his name. Having bid goodbye to European football recently, Zlatan has been firing it up in the MLS with LA Galaxy.
Though he hasn't won the Champions League, he will surely go down as one of the greats of European football.
#4 Mesut Ozil (22)
Likened to Zinedine Zidane by former manager Jose Mourinho, Mesut Ozil can currently be considered as the backbone of the Arsenal team.
Ozil plays mostly as an attacking midfielder floating in behind the striker, but can also be deployed as a winger on either flank. Having majorly played European football with the likes of Real Madrid and Arsenal, Mesut Ozil has 22 assists to his name.
Another talented player to have never won the Champions League, Ozil chose the wrong time to leave 13-time champions Real Madrid as they won La Decima the same year that Ozil left.
Due to his creative ability and offensive prowess as a playmaker, Ozil has also been called the "assist-king" by the media. With Arsenal failing to qualify for this year Champions League, and hopes of finishing in top 4 in the Premier League already looking bleak, Ozil would have to display his 'A' game in the Europa League if they have any chance of qualifying for the UCL next year.
However, with age still on his side, we won't be surprised to see Ozil climb up the ranks in this list.
#3 Lionel Messi (26)
Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi, along with Cristiano Ronaldo are undoubtedly among the greatest players of all-time.
Bursting onto the scene as a fresh-faced La Masia kid in 2005, Messi established himself as one of the greatest players to have ever graced the beautiful game. Having won the Champions league a whopping 4 times, Messi has 26 assists to his name.
The Argentine maestro is also fourth on the active list of most appearance makers in the competition with 125 appearances to his name. He also has a staggering 100 goals to his name in the Champions League and is 2nd on the all-time list.
By the time he finishes his career, he would surely be higher up on this list.
#2 Ryan Giggs (30)
Currently, the manager of the Welsh national team, Ryan Giggs spent his entire career playing for Manchester United. He was a part of their first team for a whopping 23 years.
Giggs is the most decorated British player of all time, owing to his sheer longevity. During his time at United, he won premier league a record 13 times as well as winning the Champions League on two occasions (1999 and 2008). At the time of his retirement, he was the player with highest assists in the UCL.
He made 141 appearances in the Champions League and is currently 5th on the list. Giggsy is also the oldest player to have scored in a Champions League game at 37 years of age. He is also the only player to score in 17 different UCL campaigns, with no other player scoring in even 15.
Having provided 30 assists in the tournament, Giggs is 2nd on the list of most assists in the history of the competition.
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo (34)
A five-time Ballon d'Or winner, Cristiano Ronaldo has been in sublime form for the past 12 years. A precariously talented youngster at Sporting CP, Ronaldo was discovered by Sir Alex Ferguson in a pre-season game and that is where it all began for the Portuguese international.
It was at Manchester United that the Portuguese superstar first cemented his legacy as one of the greatest players of our generation. The former Real Madrid man has made this competition his own.
He has scored 120 Champions League goals in the 153 games he played in. He is one of only two players to score 100 goals in the Champions League and has the highest number of UEFA Champions League golden boot awards - six. He also holds the record of scoring the joint-most number of hat-tricks in the UCL.
Often known as a selfish player, Ronaldo stands high and mighty on the list of the most assists in the competition with 34. The 5-time UCL winner will be hoping to cement his position at the top with his new club Juventus.
