Everyone who likes football knows the importance of the UEFA Champions League. This is the world’s most advanced, reputable, and prestigious club football event, and as such, it brings together the best of the best.
Speaking of the best, the experts at Efirbet.com decided to take a look at all the stats and see which players stand out. The names you will see have proven themselves in the UCL and will go down in history. So, let’s learn more about them.
Luka Modric
Many of you probably expected Cristiano Ronaldo to be the first name on the list. Although he deserves the first spot, we believe Luka Modric is also on another level.
The reason why the Croatian central midfielder is first is because of his 6 UCL trophies. Several other players also have 6 victories (such as Nacho Fernandez and Daniel Carvajal), but Modric is among the few who got all of his trophies with one club – Real Madrid.
The 39-year-old Modric remains one of his club’s most important players. He is also Croatia’s leader and one of the reasons why his country achieved excellent results in the last big football competitions.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Often regarded as one of the best football players in history, it is safe to say that Cristiano Ronaldo is an icon in the UEFA Champions League. At the time of writing, he continues to be the player with the most UCL matches (183) and the most goals in the competition (140).
What’s interesting is that Ronaldo scored 21 goals in 59 matches for Manchester United and 14 goals in 23 games for Juventus. While he was at Real Madrid, however, Ronaldo was on another level and ended up scoring 105 goals in 101 matches. He was one of the main reasons Los Blancos won so many UCL titles in the last couple of years.
In addition to having the most goals and matches played, Ronaldo also holds the record for the most assists (42). He is also the top penalty-scorer, scoring 19 goals (Lewandowski has the same number of goals).
Sadly for Ronaldo’s fans, the Portuguese superstar has not been a part of the UCL since 2022. Currently, he is playing in Saudi Arabia and can’t compete in the tournament.
Iker Casillas
The UEFA Champions League has been home to all sorts of world-class goalkeepers. Iker Casillas is definitely one of them because he is Real Madrid’s living legend. With his former club, Casillas won 3 UCL titles and proved himself one of the world’s best.
Casillas holds the record for the most minutes played in the UCL, with 16,267. This number is impressive, but Cristiano Ronaldo is 2nd on the list with 16,189, which is even more impressive. Keep in mind that Ronaldo is a forward, whereas Casillas is a goalkeeper, and as we know, goalkeepers always have the most playtime on the field for obvious reasons.
Casillas is also 2nd in terms of UCL matches because he participated in 181 kick-offs.
Lionel Messi
It’s impossible to make a list of the most successful football players in the UCL and not mention Messi. One of football’s GOATs has a huge impact on this tournament and is currently 2nd on the list in terms of goals. Messi scored 129 goals in 163 appearances.
Messi spent most of his years with Barcelona, so it’s no surprise that he has 140 UCL matches for his club and scored 120 goals. In the last seasons prior to moving to the MLS, Messi played for PSG. He only has 14 UCL matches for the French club and scored 9 goals in them.
The last time Messi played in the UEFA Champions League was in 2023. Fans hope they will get to see him in action again, but we’re yet to see if this will happen.
Erling Haaland
With an average ratio of 1.02 goals per match in the UEFA Champions League, Erling Haaland is one of the most successful footballers in this competition. Despite his age and the fact that he started playing in the Champions League in 2019, he has already scored 49 goals in 48 matches.
Many people assume that Haaland scored all of his goals for Manchester City, but this isn’t true. Sure, he has 26 goals in 29 matches for the English club, but Haaland also scored 15 goals in 13 games for Borussia Dortmund and 8 goals in 6 games for Red Bull Salzburg.
There’s no arguing that Haaland is among the most interesting names in the UCL and has the opportunity to reach Messi and Ronaldo. He has many seasons ahead of him, so we can’t wait to see his stats in the next couple of years.
Conclusion
To be honest, the list of the most successful footballers in the UEFA Champions League can include all sorts of names. People like Benzema, Iniesta, Xavi, Maldini, Raul, Ramos, Piqué, and many more deserve to be here. With that said, all of the names you saw above stand out a bit more in some aspects, so we have decided to focus on them.
The current UCL 2024/25 season is still ongoing, so we can’t wait to see which team will lift the trophy. Real Madrid has the biggest chance of doing it again, but we are yet to see if this will be the case.
