The players who have played together the most in the Champions League since 2000
Lionel Messi dominates when it comes to playing the most minutes with other players in the Champions League since 2000.
It’s no surprise that arguably football’s greatest-ever player has been used to the absolute maximum in football’s ultimate club competition, having won it on four occasions. His rival Cristiano Ronaldo inevitably features with his own best friends too, as the competition’s top scorer and appearance maker.
We’ve taken a look at the Champions League’s top 10 best friends since 2000. Excluding goalkeepers, these are the players with the most minutes played together in the competition.
10. Dani Alves & Lionel Messi – 6244 minutes
The first of several entries for Messi, he and Alves shared the pitch together at Barcelona for eight years.
Together they won the competition three times, the last of which came in 2015 as La Blaugrana won the treble.
9. Xavi & Lionel Messi – 6300 minutes
Two legends, watching Messi and Xavi link up together on the pitch was mesmerising and never got old.
A timeless pairing, they won the Champions League together four times, lifting it for the first time in 2006 before going on to become cornerstones in arguably the greatest side club football has ever seen from 2009 to 2011.
Considering Xavi – who has since managed Barcelona – is one of a small group of players to have made over 1000 club appearances, it’s no surprise he makes the list.
8. Sergio Ramos & Marcelo – 6501 minutes
Key in Real Madrid’s unprecedented European dominance throughout the 2010s, Marcelo and Ramos saw it all and won it all together.
Ramos captained Los Blancos to three consecutive Champions Leagues with Marcelo alongside him in defence. Speaking in 2022, Marcelo sang Ramos’ praises: “For me, he’s a big brother; he helped me a lot in my career, inside the club.”
7. Carles Puyol & Xavi – 6784 minutes
Quite literally the backbone of Barcelona for the entirety of his glistening 15-year career in their senior side, Puyol’s inclusion is no surprise.
Xavi broke into the first team a year earlier than Puyol and retired a year after, hanging around for that 2015 Champions League win. That doesn’t change the fact that they came up together and watched Barcelona transform back into one of football’s greatest sides.
6. Andres Iniesta & Lionel Messi – 6999 minutes
The other half of that iconic midfield combo – who surprisingly don’t appear together in this list – Iniesta and Messi also featured extremely regularly together.
They combined for some truly magical moments, too. Having recently retired, Messi paid tribute to Iniesta on social media: “One of the team-mates with the most magic and one of the ones I enjoyed playing with the most.
“Andres Iniesta, the ball will miss you, and so will all of us. I wish you the best always; you are a phenomenon.”
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5. Cristiano Ronaldo & Sergio Ramos – 7043 minutes
A serial scorer and a serial winner, Ramos and Ronaldo feels like the ultimate Champions League pairing.
While Ronaldo stands out as the competition’s record scorer with his 140 goals, Ramos has scored 17 himself which is mightily impressive as a centre-back – two of which have come in Champions League finals.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, has scored in three Champions League finals. They’re a pair of freaks, honestly.
4. John Terry & Frank Lampard – 7304 minutes
The only English club to be represented in the top 10, it’s a testament to just how important Terry and Lampard were to Chelsea across several different eras at the club.
Terry has been on record in saying that he believes Lampard is the best player Chelsea has ever had, and it’s no surprise considering how important the pair were together for the Blues.
After heartbreak in Moscow in 2008, the pair rebounded in 2012 as they finally won the Champions League together, beating Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
READ: Can Robert Lewandowski break Messi & Ronaldo’s Champions League goalscoring records?
3. Gerard Pique & Sergio Busquets – 7917 minutes
The beginning of an inevitable Barcelona top three, Pique became a vital piece of the puzzle upon his return to the club in 2008 and that’s clear in his Champions League minutes.
He won the top prize four times in his career, three of which came with La Blaugrana alongside Busquets, who developed a legacy as perhaps the best ever in his position.
2. Gerard Pique & Lionel Messi – 8121 minutes
With 128 appearances in the Champions League, it’s no surprise Pique comes in right at the top alongside Messi. The pair were absolutely key for Barcelona.
There have been conflicting reports in more recent years to do with how it ended for both of them at the club, however, with some stating that Pique told Barcelona not to renew Messi’s contract. However, the specifics of their relationship these days is unknown.
1. Lionel Messi & Sergio Busquets – 8261 minutes
A bromance that certainly cannot be tarnished, Busquets and Messi enjoyed the best and most productive years of their career together in the greatest club side of all time and are now playing one touch off into the Miami sunset.
The pair were unstoppable at Barcelona for different reasons. Busquets locking it down in midfield and retaining possession before Messi burst into life, nobody could get near these two.
And in MLS, they still can’t.