Will Kevin De Bruyne break Cristiano Ronaldo’s legendary Champions League assists record?
Manchester City legend Kevin De Bruyne moved up to fifth in the Champions League’s all-time assists ranking last night – but could he one day take Cristiano Ronaldo’s crown and claim the record outright?
The era-defining Belgian playmaker has continued his love affair with European football’s most prestigious cup competition after departing Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Manchester City in the summer.
While he reportedly had lucrative offers from MLS and Saudi Pro League clubs on the table, De Bruyne has been keen to prove he still belongs at the elite European level with a move to the reigning Serie A champions Napoli.
After Thomas Muller and Angel Di Maria waved goodbye to European football at the end of last season, moving to Vancouver Whitecaps and Rosario Central respectively, De Bruyne is the only player in the Champions League’s all-time top 10 assist-providers playing in this year’s competition.
Fate conspired to see him return to the Etihad on his Champions League debut for Napoli, but it didn’t quite go as planned.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s red card against City forced Antonio Conte into a tactical tweak, sacrificing De Bruyne in the early stages in Manchester. Napoli went on to lose 2-0.
But De Bruyne offered a reminder of his creative brilliance on his Champions League home debut at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. He notched two assists in their 2-1 victory over Sporting, both goals scored by Manchester United loanee Rasmus Hojlund.
“Kevin is a legend of the sport,” Hojlund said.
“For me, it’s just every time he has the ball, go find some space. I’m so grateful to play with a player like this.”
De Bruyne returned the compliment afterwards, praising the Denmark international and comparing him to his record-breaking former Man City team-mate
“I was trying to get into that space for the first goal and was waiting for the right moment to pass it to Rasmus, luckily he did the rest,” he told Corriere dello Sport.
“I think Rasmus is growing a lot and is very similar to [Erling] Haaland.”
De Bruyne’s pair of assists take him to a grand total of 31 in the Champions League’s all-time rankings.
He’s just moved ahead of legendary midfielders Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez, drawing level with Manchester United icon Ryan Giggs in fifth place.
Neymar, in fourth place, is only two ahead of De Bruyne. With at least six more league phase games to go, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him overtake the Brazilian in the coming weeks.
But what about the names at the top of the list? We’ve taken a closer look to see how likely De Bruyne is to claiming the record outright.
Can De Bruyne surpass Messi and Ronaldo’s Champions League assists records?
Lionel Messi stands third in the Champions League’s all-time assist ranking with 40.
His close friend and long-time Argentina team-mate Di Maria stands second with 41.
Ronaldo still holds the record outright, just, with 42 Champions League assists for Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus. That’s some going considering he also boasts the all-time goalscoring record.
Given he just got two in one game, it’s easy to imagine De Bruyne getting at least three more assists this season to overtake Neymar, but 10 surpass Messi, 11 to surpass Di Maria and 12 to claim Ronaldo’s crown is a bigger ask.
It’s a colossal ask to do it this season, in fact.
Hitting double figures for assists in a Champions League campaign might not sound that difficult, but it is.
In fact, it’s literally never been done.
Luis Figo, for Barcelona in 1999-00 (the year he won the Ballon d’Or) still holds the record for the most assists in a single Champions League campaign with nine.
None of the runaway top three – Ronaldo, Di Maria and Messi – ever notched more than six assists in one season. Their places at the top are more down to their longevity.
De Bruyne’s best assists tally in a Champions League campaign was six in 2022-23 – and that was going all the way to lifting the trophy.
Since then, over the course of his final two injury-laden years with City, De Bruyne managed just one Champions League assist.
It wouldn’t be a major shock to see that single-season record fall in the coming years, given the expansion of the tournament.
Last season Raphinha came within a whisker of breaking Ronaldo’s record for the most combined goals and assists in a single campaign. He notched eight assists, just one off Figo’s record, and 13 goals.
With two extra games in the league phase, plus the potential of an extra double-legged knockout play-off game, it’s not unthinkable that De Bruyne pushes for double figures this season.
But claiming 12 more assists on top of the two he’s already notched is surely an unrealistic ask. Even for a player of De Bruyne’s quality.
If you think bigger picture, it could certainly happen before De Bruyne hangs up his boots. He signed a two-year deal with Napoli, meaning he’d only need six more assists this season and six next year to claim the record.
De Bruyne also reportedly has the option of extending his contract for one more year, into 2027-28. That would mean he’d only need to average four assists over each of the next three seasons. That sounds eminently doable, right?
He’d be 38 after three more seasons. At that point we can imagine he’d retire or take a well-paid job in the Middle East, but you never know. Look at Luka Modric, still shining for AC Milan at the age of 40.
To summarise, Ronaldo can breathe a sigh of relief that his record should be safe for another year. But it might not be in a season or two…
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