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Since its inception, the UEFA Champions League has been a platform for the very best players from all over the world to showcase their talents. The competition brought champions from all over Europe together to compete for supremacy. A number of players have distinguished themselves with exemplary goalscoring skills in the competition.
The world's best forwards have played in the UEFA Champions League
Many legendary forwards in world football history have played and still play in the competition. Legendary strikers like Raul, Fillippo Inzaghi, Samuel Eto'o, Didier Drogba, Ronaldo and many others featured in the competition in early 2000s. Presently, the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland reign supreme among the forwards in the competition.
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Here are five players to have played at least one full group stage (or its equivalent) with the best goal ratio in the Champions League in the 21st century.
#5 Lionel Messi (0.80 goals per game)
Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi holds the record for being the second-highest goalscorer in the history of the UEFA Champions League. The former FC Barcelona star has scored 125 goals in 156 appearances in the competition, amounting to 0.80 goals per game.
Messi made his debut in the competition as an FC Barcelona player in December 2004. He was introduced as a substitute against Shakhtar Donetsk. The Argentine forward played for the Spanish club in the competition for the next 17 years, before completing a move to PSG last summer. He made his debut for PSG in the competition in a 1-1 draw against Club Brugge in September 2021.
Messi has won the competition on four occasions in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015. He holds the record for most group stage (76) and Round of 16 (29) goals in the history of the competition.
#4 Robert Lewandowski (0.82 goals per game)
Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski is one of the best footballers on the planet at present. The Polish striker is presently the UEFA Champions League's highest goal scorer with 12 goals in the 2021-22 season for his German side. He has scored 85 goals in 104 appearances in the competition, with a ratio of 0.82 goals per game.
Lewandowski got his first taste of Champions League football as a Borussia Dortmund player in a 1-1 draw against Arsenal in September 2011. He led the club to the final of the competition in 2012-13, losing to Bayern Munich in the game. He moved to the Bavarian giants in 2014 after scoring 17 goals in 28 appearances for Borussia Dortmund in the competition.
Lewandowski has won the UEFA Champions League only once, in 2020. The striker scored 15 goals in 10 appearances in the competition that season.
#3 Harry Kane (0.83 goals per game)
Harry Kane is on his way to becoming a Tottenham Hotspur legend. The Englishman has only ever represented the club in the UEFA Champions League, with his last appearance in the competition coming in 2019. Kane has scored 20 goals in 24 appearances in the competition, giving him a ratio of 0.83 goals per game.
Kane made his Champions League debut for Tottenham Hotspur in a 2-1 defeat to AS Monaco in September 2016. He went on to score two goals in three appearances in the competition.
He scored five goals in nine appearances as he led his side to the final of the competition in 2018-19 before losing to Liverpool.
Tottenham have struggled to qualify for the Champions League in recent years. Hence, Kane might be open to moving to another club where he can rub shoulders with Europe's elite. The striker will hope to lift the coveted trophy before he retires.
#2 Erling Haaland (1.2 goals per game)
Norwegian youngster Erling Haaland first announced his arrival on the biggest stage of all with a hat-trick in the Champions League. The striker was only 19 years old when he made his debut in the competition in September 2019. He scored a hat-trick in a 6-2 win for Red Bull Salzburg over Genk.
He has 23 goals in 19 appearances in the UEFA Champions League.
Haaland secured a move to Borussia Dortmund midway through the 2019-20 season and continued his impressive goalscoring record. The Norwegian youngster has scored 15 goals in 13 appearances in the competition for Dortmund, including three in three this season.
Haaland holds the record for being the first teenager to score in each of his first five Champions League appearances. He also holds the record for being the first teenager to score in five consecutive appearances in the competition.
#1 Sebastian Haller (1.4 goals per game)
Ivorian striker Sebastien Haller has thrown up one of the greatest surprises in Champions League history on a personal level this season. The former Eintracht Frankfurt and West Ham United striker was a flop in England before seeking an escape with a move to Ajax in 2020. He has scored 11 goals in eight appearances in his debut season (2021-22) in the competition.
Haller made his debut in the competition in September 2021 as Ajax defeated Sporting Lisbon 5-1, scoring four goals in the game. He followed up the haul with goals in each of his next six appearances in the competition. He failed to find the net in the Round of 16 second leg as his side lost to Benfica 1-0 to crash out of the competition.
Haller is the first man in the history of the competition to score in seven consecutive appearances. He is also the only man other than Cristiano Ronaldo to have ever scored in every group stage match in a season.
