Top 5 Players with Most Goals in Champions League Round of 16

The UEFA Champions League is considered the world's most prestigious club tournament. The Round of 16 is the first knockout hurdle teams face in the highly competitive UCL. The 16 participants throw everything at their opposition, pushing until the last blow of the whistle for victory. The players can become legends with great performances in Europe's top competition. And since scoring goals is considered the most glamorous skill in football, those who find the back of the net consistently can earn legendary status in the game. In this article, we'll look at the top five players with the most goals in Champions League Round of 16.

Also Read: Most Champions League Goals in a Season

Ronaldo & Messi's goal-scoring record in the Champions League

Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably the greatest player in the history of the tournament with five titles and 141 goals to his name. A blistering goalscoring record that has left legends of the game miles behind. Lionel Messi is in the second position in terms of scoring with 129 goals. He also has 4 titles to his name.

Top 5 Players with Most Goals in Champions League Round of 16

Arguably the greatest player of this generation, Lionel Messi holds the record of scoring the most goals in Champions League Round of 16, having scored 29 goals in 36 matches. All of these goals came for his boyhood club Barcelona.

Messi, who currently doesn't play in Europe anymore, has played a total of 163 matches in the UEFA Champions League. With 129 goals to his name, the Argentina icon is the competition's second-leading goalscorer of all time, behind his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo. The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner won the tournament a whopping four times (2006, 2009, 2011, 2015).

Mr. Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo bid goodbye to Europe with 25 UCL RO16 goals in 36 matches. The 39-year-old relentless goal-machine scored twice for Manchester United, 18 times for Real Madrid, and five times for Juventus in the Round of 16 games.

Ronaldo, who won the Champions League a joint record five times (2008, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018), holds the record for most appearances as well as most goals in the competition's history. The Portugal legend has played 183 Champions League matches in his career, scoring 141 times.

One of the finest striker of this generation, Robert Lewandowski has scored 18 goals in the Champions League Round Of 16 so far. Three of his 18 goals came in four matches for Borussia Dortmund, one came recently for Barcelona in the first leg against Napoli in the 2023/24 season while the remaining 14 goals came in 16 games for Bayern Munich.

Lewandowski, who has won only one Champions League title with Bayern Munich in 2020, has played 117 matches in the Champions League. With 93 goals to his name, the Poland icon is the competition's third-leading goalscorer of all time.

One of the legendary strikers of the 21st century, Karim Benzema is in fourth place in the list, having netted 17 goals in 28 matches in the UEFA Champions League Round Of 16. Only one of his these goals came for Lyon, with the remaining 16 coming for Real Madrid.

The Real Madrid icon won a joint record five Champions League trophies during his 14-season stint at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. He is the competition's fourth-highest goalscorer of all time. The French sensation has scored 90 goals in 154 games before joining Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad in July.

In fifth place, Bayern Munich stalwart Thomas Muller comes with 15 UCL Round of 16 goals to his name. The Germany icon has only represented the Bavarians in the UEFA Champions League and has registered those numbers in 26 appearances so far in his career.

Muller, has been an integral part of Bayern for 14 years. He has played a total of 149 matches in the UEFA Champions League, scoring 54 times and providing 33 assists. The 34-year-old has won the competition twice so far, once in 2012-13 and again in 2019-20.