Comparing how long it took Kylian Mbappe to score 50 Champions League goals with Messi & Ronaldo
Kylian Mbappe recently scored his 50th Champions League goal against Atalanta, but how long did it take him to reach that milestone compared to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo? We’ve crunched the numbers.
After bursting onto the scene in 2016–17, Mbappe instantly made an impression in the Champions League as he made it all the way to the semi-final with Monaco.
During that campaign, a teenage Mbappe scored in the round of 16, quarter-final and semi-final, while averaging a goal every 89.3 minutes in Europe that year.
Following his eye-catching campaign with Monaco, PSG promptly swooped in for him and paid €180million for his services.
During his seven-year stay in Paris, the Frenchman produced plenty of memorable moments in the Champions League and scored 42 goals in 64 UCL appearances.
While he never managed to win it with PSG, he did come agonisingly close in 2019-20 but ended up losing the final to Bayern Munich.
Since joining Real Madrid, Mbappe has scored two UCL goals in six appearances, having found the back of the net against Stuttgart and Atalanta.
In total, it took the Frenchman 79 games to reach the 50-goal milestone, but how does that compare to the likes of Messi and Ronaldo?
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Messi scored his 50th Champions League goal against AC Milan back in April 2012, during a 3-1 triumph in the quarter-final second leg.
The Argentine forward scored a brace that day, taking his overall tally to 51 UCL goals after 66 games. Messi therefore took 16 fewer matches to reach 50 goals than Mbappe did.
However, in the case of Ronaldo, it took him slightly longer to reach the 50-goal tally compared to both Messi and Mbappe.
CR7 scored his 50th goal in the competition back in April 2013 during a semi-final clash with Borussia Dortmund.
In total, it took the Portuguese star 91 games to reach the 50-goal landmark which is 12 more games than Mbappe and 25 more games than it took Messi.
However, while it took Ronaldo longer to reach 50 goals, he became much more prolific in the competition during his later years. For example, it only took him 46 games to score his next 50 UCL goals.
Here is the full breakdown of Mbappe, Messi and Ronaldo’s record after scoring 50 Champions League goals:
Mbappe’s UCL record after 50 goals
Games: 79
Goals: 50
Assists: 27
Goals + assists: 77
Penalties: 6
Free-kicks: 0
Minutes per goal: 125.7
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 142.8
Minutes per goal or assist: 81.6
Messi’s UCL record after 50 goals
Games: 66
Goals: 51
Assists: 15
Goals + assists: 66
Penalties: 6
Free-kicks: 1
Minutes per goal: 103.8
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 117.7
Minutes per goal or assist: 80.2
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Ronaldo’s UCL record after 50 goals
Games: 91
Goals: 50
Assists: 18
Goals + assists: 68
Penalties: 4
Free-kicks: 8
Minutes per goal: 153.9
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 166.8
Minutes per goal or assist: 112.9