Most goals in Champions League semi-finals: Cristiano Ronaldo uncatchable with ludicrous record
We’re at the business end of the Champions League as PSG, Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Atletico Madrid aim for a place in the 2026 final.
Which players will rise to the fore in the last batch of knockout ties before the final itself? Whoever makes their mark in the semi-final will still have some way to go to reach the record for goals scored at this stage of the competition since its 1992 rebrand.
Here are the players with the most goals in Champions League semi-finals.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo – 13
By far and away the top scorer in Champions League history, Ronaldo is a five-time winner of the competition.
He is the only player with double figures of Champions League semi-final goals, notching 13.
His first was for Manchester United against AC Milan in 2007 and his last finished off a hat-trick for Real Madrid against Atletico Madrid 10 years later. It’s a record that might never be broken.
2. Karim Benzema – 8
In addition to being one of the more likely players to assist a Ronaldo goal, Benzema scored a fair few for himself during his time with Real Madrid.
It took until April 2013 for Benzema to score his first Champions League semi-final goal, which was against Borussia Dortmund.
His last Champions League semi-final goals were scored in the 2021-22 season. He scored a brace in the first leg against Manchester City and an extra-time goal in the second leg to send Madrid through to the final, which they won.
It was a similar situation to a few years earlier, when Benzema’s brace in the second leg against Bayern Munich put Madrid into the 2018 final, the third in a row they would win.
3. Robert Lewandowski – 7
The first time Lewandowski played in a Champions League semi-final, he wasn’t content with just scoring once. Instead, he scored four goals within the space of an hour in a 4-1 Borussia Dortmund win over Real Madrid.
His other three Champions League semi-final goals all followed during his spell with Bayern Munich.
4. Lionel Messi – 6
Astonishingly, Messi drew a blank in his first six Champions League semi-final appearances, finally breaking his duck for that stage of the competition with a brace for Barcelona in the first leg against Real Madrid in 2011.
He also scored a semi-final brace against Bayern Munich in 2015, which proved to be another good omen as Barcelona won the competition again, just like four years earlier.
His last Champions League semi-final goals also came as a pair, in the first leg against Liverpool in 2019. But a famous comeback in the second leg prevented Barca from reaching the final.
5. Alessandro Del Piero – 5
Del Piero had the privilege of winning the Champions League at the first attempt in his career with Juventus in 1995-96, although his last goal in that season’s edition was in the quarter-finals.
In fact, the Italian forward featured in three consecutive Champions League finals between 1996 and 1998. Along the way, he was absent for the 1997 semi-finals, but scored a hat-trick against Monaco in the first leg in 1998 and another goal in the second leg.
His last goal at the semi-final stage of the competition was against Real Madrid in 2003, before Juventus lost an all-Italian final to AC Milan on penalties. What a player.
6. Jari Litmanen – 5
Litmanen scored a semi-final second leg brace for Ajax against Bayern Munich during his debut season in the tournament in 1995, the year the Dutch side last won the competition.
He again scored twice in the second leg in 1996, this time against Panathinaikos, before Ajax lost the final on penalties to Del Piero’s Juventus.
The two finalists met again in the following season’s semi-finals, when Litmanen scored a first-leg consolation goal within a 6-2 aggregate defeat.
Litmanen later played for Barcelona, but never scored for them in Europe, and Liverpool, with whom he never made it beyond the quarter-finals. Another sensational player.
7. Sadio Mane – 4
Seven players have scored exactly four Champions League semi-final goals. Mane’s were all for Liverpool – one in each leg against Roma in 2018 and one in each leg against Villarreal in 2022.
8. Thomas Muller – 4
Muller scored more than 50 Champions League goals overall for Bayern Munich. Curiously, all four of his semi-final goals were against Barcelona: two in the first leg in 2013, one in the second leg and one in 2015’s second leg.
9. Arjen Robben – 4
Robben’s Champions League semi-final goals all came during his spell with Bayern Munich: against Lyon in 2010, Real Madrid in 2012, and in both legs against Barcelona in 2013 – the year he also scored and assisted in the final to win the competition for the only time in his career.
10. Zinedine Zidane – 4
Zidane’s goal and double assist in the second leg of the 1997 semi-final for Juventus against Ajax helped his side into the final, where they would lose to Borussia Dortmund.
He scored in the first leg of the semi-final against Monaco the season after, but again became a beaten finalist.
After moving to Real Madrid, the midfielder scored in the first leg of the 2002 semi-final against Barcelona and finally went on to win the tournament. He scored against Juventus in the following season’s semi-final, but never made it to that stage again.
11. Andriy Shevchenko – 4
Shevchenko played exactly 100 games in the Champions League, scoring a brace on his first semi-final appearance against Bayern Munich for Dynamo Kyiv in 1999. His other semi-final goals were for AC Milan against Inter in 2003, when he won the competition, and against PSV in 2005, when he was a runner-up to Liverpool.
12. Riyad Mahrez – 4
Originally part of the title-winning Leicester City side that made their first and only entry into the Champions League in 2016, Mahrez ultimately won the competition with Manchester City in 2023.
In terms of semi-finals, he scored against PSG in the first leg in 2021 and then a brace in the second, and in the second leg against Real Madrid in 2022.
13. Vinicius Junior – 4
Vini Jr has scored in both of the Champions League finals he has played in, in 2022 and 2024. In each of those seasons, he had scored in the semis too – in the first leg against Manchester City in 2022 and with a brace in the first leg against Bayern in 2024.
He also scored in the first leg of the 2023 semi-final against City, but was on the losing side.
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