Top nine players Erling Haaland surpassed in Champions League goals; Henry, Rooney & more

The Norway international is rapidly climbing the UCL top goalscorer list.

Erling Haaland, a forward for Manchester City, scored against Borussia Dortmund, his former team, last month to add another goal to his Champions League collection.

He now has 54 goals in the competition thanks to his strike. Now, given his age, the record of 140 set by Cristiano Ronaldo becomes increasingly attainable.

Meanwhile, Haaland has already passed several amazing names in his quest to breach the Portuguese superstar tally. The Norwegian has already surpassed these nine Champions League superstars.

Nine iconic stars, Erling Haaland has overtaken in the Champions League top goalscorers list

9. Luis Suarez – 27 UCL goals

Only 27 of Luis Suarez’s 513 career goals have come in the Champions League. However, Suarez wasn’t a regular in the competition as he didn’t play in the Champions League until he was 23. He also played for Liverpool, who were then a mid-table side.

He began to score goals much more frequently after moving to Barcelona, where he scored 25 goals in 55 games for the team. Before leaving Europe, Suarez scored his last Champions League goal for Atletico Madrid.

8. Wayne Rooney – 30 UCL goals

In 2004, Wayne Rooney made his debut for Manchester United as a teenager with a spectacular hat-trick against Fenerbahce, although he never scored many goals in the competition. He scored United’s lone goal in their 3-1 final loss to Barcelona. His greatest single-season total was five Champions League goals in the 2009–10 and 2011–12 seasons.

Rooney had a goal-to-game ratio of only 0.35 after playing 85 UCL games and scoring 30 goals overall.

Erling Haaland is now 10th in the all-time Champions League top scorers list.He's only played 52 games 😳 pic.twitter.com/vQOnZeMnZo

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 5, 2025

7. Kun Aguero – 41 UCL goals

Before Haaland, Kun Aguero was the primary goalscorer of the Man City club. Before the Argentine moved to Manchester City, he scored five goals for Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

An outstanding debut against Swansea City was a hint of things to come; Aguero scored 260 goals in 390 games by the time he left the Etihad.

However, City found the Champions League to be a challenging competition at that time. For starters, they frequently encountered a challenging group due to their relative lack of European experience. But Aguero was frequently the one to step up.

6. Neymar – 43 UCL goals

Neymar only has 43 goals in the competition, which seems odd given his tenure at some of the best clubs in Europe.

To be fair, he didn’t make his debut until he was 21, but you might have thought the Brazilian sensation would have scored more.

It’s interesting to note that his stats for PSG and Barcelona are nearly identical: 22 in 41 for the Ligue 1 powerhouses and 21 in 40 UCL games for the Spanish team in the competition.

5. Didier Drogba – 44 UCL goals

In the 2011–12 season, Didier Drogba led Chelsea to Champions League triumph over Bayern in one of the most memorable finals performances ever. The Chelsea great made 92 appearances and finished with 44 goals.

4. Harry Kane – 45 UCL goals

Harry Kane is making up for lost time at Bayern Munich by appearing to score in nearly every match.

However, before moving to Munich, Kane’s time at Tottenham may have prevented him from appearing in many Champions League games as he ought to. He only made 32 UCL outings before departing the north London team.

Kane scored 21 goals while at Spurs. However, since joining Bayern, he has a scoring ratio of 0.83 and appears destined to go up the ladder.

3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – 48 UCL goals

Except for this trophy, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has won almost every prize that club football has to offer.

The Swede’s list of accomplishments noticeably lacks the Champions League, and he never even came near. He never went past the quarterfinals once and did not participate in a final.

Additionally, whenever he left a club, that team notoriously won the competition the next year. He departed the team the summer before Inter won it, in 2009. He then went on loan to Milan during the 2010–2011 season while his parent team, Barcelona, triumphed.

2. Mohamed Salah – 48 UCL goals

Mohamed Salah has made a career out of scoring goals for fun, and his performance in the Champions League is no exception. Salah had a slow start, scoring just three goals across stints with FC Basel, AS Roma, and Chelsea. But only after joining Liverpool, he develop into the deadly finisher we all know today.

His best season was his first at Anfield, where he scored ten UCL goals as Liverpool advanced to the final. The Egyptian might have even won the trophy if Sergio Ramos hadn’t given him a cruel tug that injured his shoulder.

Salah’s moment would finally arrive in 2022 when Liverpool defeated Spurs to win the renowned trophy.

Erling Haaland becomes the first player in Champions League history to score in five consecutive games for three different clubs 🤖 pic.twitter.com/il3apca6nR

— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) November 5, 2025

1. Thierry Henry – 50 UCL goals

Thierry Henry was a formidable player in the competition, but these days he spends Champions League evenings as a pundit for CBS.

Although the majority of his matches were played as an Arsenal player, he made his competition debut with AS Monaco and scored an outstanding seven goals in nine games.

However, at Arsenal, Henry didn’t taste much success besides winning the Premier League. Their best opportunity came in 2006 when they played Barcelona in the UCL final before losing it 2-1.

However, after leaving Arsenal for Barcelona and their subsequent victory in 2009, Henry ultimately got his hands on the trophy.

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Telegram.