UEFA Champions League: Top 5 all-time goal scorers in quarterfinals

UEFA Champions League is the most elite tournament in club football, which sees the best clubs in Europe battle each season to try and win this lustrous prize.

Because of this, there is a great sense of history embedded in this tournament, as many of the all-time great teams and players have all played and even won this tournament.

Although winning the trophy itself is the ultimate prize, for forwards being the top goalscorer is also of huge importance.

Whilst scoring in the Champions League is impressive in itself, the ability to carry on this form in the later more difficult rounds of the competition is another matter entirely.

As this season's Champions League is currently at the quarter-final stage, with the first two matches having already been played, it seemed worthwhile to look at the all-time top 5 goalscorers in the quarterfinals in the Champions League era.

#5 Filippo Inzaghi (9 goals)

Filippo Inzaghi was one of Italy's best players during the late 90s and 2000s

Italian great, Filippo Inzaghi comes in at fourth on the list with a total of 9 goals in the Champions League quarterfinals.

Filippo Inzaghi was one of the best strikers in the world during the late 90s and 2000s, and helped his teams win a host of trophies in this period

Although he didn't possess the technical abilities of some of his contemporaries like Brazilian Ronaldo or Thierry Henry, he was an intelligent striker who was able to score goals through his exceptional understanding of the game.

As well as being a great player for Italy and also for Juventus and AC Milan in the Serie A, Inzaghi was also exceptional in the Champions League.

The statistic that reveals this best is his 70 goals in all European Club competitions which place him in 4th behind only Ronaldo, Messi, and Raúl!

#4 Andriy Shevchenko (9 goals)

Shevchenko won the Ballon d'Or in 2004

Andriy Shevchenko also scored 9 goals in the quarter-finals stages of the Champions League during his impressive career.

Shevchenko was also one of the best strikers of his eras, with the Ukrainian playing for a number of Europe's best clubs, such as AC Milan and Chelsea.

One of the personal highlights of his illustrious career was his Ballon d'Or victory in 2004, beating Deco and Ronaldinho to the golden ball.

Shevchenko was a prolific player for AC Milan during their recent peak years in the mid-2000s where they were arguably the best team in the world.

This form was evidenced in the Champions League as well, where the Ukrainian currently sits at joint 8th (alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic) on the all-time goal-scoring list for the Champions League era.

He won his sole Champions League title in 2003 with AC Milan which saw the Italian giants defeat Juventus in the finals in a dramatic penalty shootout.

#3 Lionel Messi (10 goals)

Lionel Messi has scored 10 goals in 20 appearances in the Champions League quarter-finals

At number 3 is Barcelona's Lionel Messi who has, thus far, scored 10 goals in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

Given that Lionel Messi places second on the all-time goal scoring charts for the Champions League (behind Cristiano Ronaldo) it may be surprising for some to see him at third.

Although Lionel Messi is the leading all-time scorer in both the group stages and the round of 16, this isn't the case for the stages beyond that.

In recent years, Lionel Messi has struggled in the quarter-final stages of the Champions League having not scored in a quarter-final tie since 2013!

Nevertheless, it is most likely that Messi will eventually break this duck and rediscover his goalscoring form in the tougher part of the elite club competition.

As of right now, however, the Argentine maestro will have to settle for third place on the list.

#2 Raúl (10 goals)

Raul scored 77 goals in the Champions League, which was once the all-time record.

Coming in at number 2 is Real Madrid and Spanish football legend Raul, with a handsome 10 goals.

Once upon a time, Raúl was the top goalscorer in the Champions League with an impressive 77 goals.

However, a certain Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi subsequently overtook this figure and have gone on to leave his total of 77 well and truly into the distance.

Nevertheless, Raúl was hugely successful in the Champions League having won 3 titles with Real Madrid. In addition, he was top goalscorer in the Champions League for the 1999/00 season and the 2000/01 season.

Although he is joint on 10 goals with Messi, Raul scored these goals in fewer appearances and given that Messi is still playing, it is most probable that the Argentine will one day take yet another record of the Spaniard.

Despite having lost his title as all-time top goalscorer to Ronaldo and Messi, Raúl will forever be embedded into the folklore of the Champions League for his titles, goals, and longevity in the tournament that few other players have matched.

#1 Cristiano Ronaldo (23 goals)

Ronaldo has scored 23 goals in just 20 quarterfinals appearances!

Cristiano Ronaldo is the king of the Champions League and owns the majority of player records for the elite club tournament.

His stunning 23 goals in the quarterfinals of the Champions League is just another example of this.

Whilst the 23 goals is impressive in itself when comparing it to his closest rivals, he sits a crazy 13 goals ahead of them.

Furthermore, this isn't just due to playing more matches than them, with both Messi and Ronaldo having played 20 matches in the quarterfinals each.

In addition, his goal to game ratio is 1.15 in the quarterfinals which is even more remarkable when considering the level of opponents that he has had to face in this latter stage of the Champions League.

With Juventus due to play Ajax this figure could well increase, and with all things considered, this record may never be broken.