Context:

The UEFA Champions League, a prestigious football competition, showcases the talents of leading players aiming for both individual and team success. Barcelona's Raphinha has become a joint top scorer after a dramatic match against Inter Milan, highlighting his exceptional performance alongside other notable players like Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski. Despite Raphinha's efforts, his team faced elimination in a gripping extra-time defeat at San Siro. The competition remains intense as players vie for top goal-scorer status, with Serhou Guirassy previously leading the chart before his team's exit. The league continues to be a stage for emerging superstars, with historical legends like Cristiano Ronaldo still holding records for most goals scored in a single season.

Dive Deeper:

• The UEFA Champions League is renowned for elevating players to global stardom, with goals often being the focus of attention, as seen with Harry Kane's remarkable four-goal performance against Dinamo Zagreb.

• Raphinha emerged as a standout player for Barcelona, scoring a hat-trick against Bayern Munich, which placed him among the top scorers along with other elite players like Serhou Guirassy and Robert Lewandowski.

• Despite Raphinha's impressive performance, Barcelona faced heartbreak as they were eliminated by Inter Milan after a 4-3 defeat in extra time during the semifinals.

• Serhou Guirassy temporarily led the scoring charts with a hat-trick in a quarterfinal comeback attempt against Barcelona, showcasing the competitive nature of the league.

• Cristiano Ronaldo's record of 17 goals in a single Champions League season remains unbeaten, underscoring his historical impact, while new talents continue to strive for similar achievements.

• Robert Lewandowski joined an exclusive club of players with over 100 Champions League goals, demonstrating his consistent goal-scoring prowess throughout the tournament.

• Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior also made significant contributions to their teams, but their performances waned in the later stages, emphasizing the demanding nature of the competition.

• As one of the world's most prominent football competitions, the UEFA Champions League can be a breeding ground for superstars of today and tomorrow.

• The best players in the world look not only to vault their clubs to the coveted title, but also put themselves on a pathway to global renown.

• While players all over the pitch are scrutinized and praised, goals get the headlines more often than not. Harry Kane, who finished joint-top of last season's standings alongside Kylian Mbappe, got off to a flying start in the new format as he scored an incredible four goals in Bayern Munich's resounding 9-2 win over Dinamo Zagreb, including a hat-trick of penalties. Then it was Raphinha's turn to storm up the charts with a hat-trick of his own for Barcelona against Kane's side.

• Mbappe got off to a hot start with Real Madrid in a win over Stuttgart, and his hat-trick against Man City in the knockout stage matched teammate Vinicius Junior 's triple from a stunning 5-2 win over Borussia Dortmund in the league phase, but the Blancos duo faded late in the competition.

• Robert Lewandowski was in the thick of the hunt, having joined a very exclusive club of players with 100 Champions League goals on matchday five. He struck from the penalty spot twice in Barcelona's bonkers 5-4 win over Benfica on Matchweek 7, while teammate Raphinha scored two of his own.

• Now that the knockout stage is in full swing, the aforementioned players have jockeyed back and forth, but it was Serhou Guirassy who would take the lead — at least, for a time — as his hat-trick in Borussia Dortmund's comeback bid against Barcelona in the quarterfinals fell short.

• With Guirassy's side eliminated, Raphinha almost drew level with the leader as Barcelona played to a 3-3 thriller against Inter Milan in the first leg of their semifinal matchup, but his glorious free-kick went down officially as an own-goal.

• He did so in the return before Barca left San Siro heartbroken after a 4-3 extra-time defeat.

• The Sporting News brings you the updated top goal scorers for the current season's UEFA tournament as players across Europe hope to put themselves in rare company.

• WATCH: UEFA Champions League with a FREE trial of Paramount+ in USA | A new era of UEFA Champions League in Australia, only on Stan Sport

• UEFA Champions League goal scorers 2024/25

  Updated after Inter vs. Barcelona on Tuesday, May 6.

• Rank	Player	Club	Goals (PKs)	Assists	Matches	Minutes Played
  1.	Serhou Guirassy	B. Dortmund	13 (5)	4	14	1083
  =	Raphinha	Barcelona	13 (0)	8	14	1215
  3.	Harry Kane	Bayern Munich	11 (4)	2	13	1119
  =	Robert Lewandowski	Barcelona	11 (3)	0	12	953
  5.	Lautaro Martinez	Inter Milan	9 (1)	0	13	767
  6.	Ousmane Dembele	PSG	8 (0)	3	13	1052
  =	Vinicius Junior	Real Madrid	8 (1)	2	12	1104
  =	Lautaro Martinez	Inter Milan	8 (1)	0	12	696
  =	Erling Haaland	Man City	8 (2)	0	9	771
  10.	Jonathan David	Lille	7 (2)	2	10	746
  =	Vangelis Pavlidis	Benfica	7 (2)	2	12	905
  =	Julian Alvarez	Atletico Madrid	7 (0)	1	10	790
  =	Kylian Mbappe	Real Madrid	7 (0)	1	13	1057

  First tiebreaker is assists, followed by a lower minutes-per-goal total.

• MORE: Premier League top goal scorers | La Liga top goal scorers

• UEFA Champions League Golden Boot winners

  Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have dominated the majority of Golden Boot races with Ronaldo's 17-goal haul in 2013/14 still the single-season Champions League record.

• Year	Player	Team	Goals
  2023/24	Harry Kane	Bayern Munich	8
  	Kylian Mbappe	Paris Saint-Germain	8
  2022/23	Erling Haaland	Manchester City	12
  2021/22	Karim Benzema	Real Madrid	15
  2020/21	Erling Haaland	Borussia Dortmund	10
  2019/20	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	15
  2018/19	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	12
  2017/18	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	15
  2016/17	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	12
  2015/16	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	16
  2014/15	Neymar	Barcelona	10
  	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	10
  	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	10
  2013/14	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	17
  2012/13	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	12
  2011/12	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	14
  2010/11	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	12
  2009/10	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	8
  2008/09	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	9
  2007/08	Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	8
  2006/07	Kaka	AC Milan	10
  2005/06	Andriy Shevchenko	AC Milan	9
  2004/05	Ruud van Nistelrooy	Manchester United	8
  2003/04	Fernando Morientes	AS Monaco	9
  2002/03	Ruud van Nistelrooy	Manchester United	12
  2001/02	Ruud van Nistelrooy	Manchester United	10
  2000/01	Raul	Real Madrid	7
  1999/00	Raul	Real Madrid	10
  	Mario Jardel	Porto	10
  	Rivaldo	Barcelona	10
  1998/99	Andriy Shevchenko	Dynamo Kyiv	8
  	Dwight Yorke	Manchester United	8
  1997/98	Alessandro Del Piero	Juventus	10
  1996/97	Milinko Pantić	Atletico Madrid	5
  1995/96	Jari Litmanen	Ajax	9
  1994/95	George Weah	PSG	7
  1993/94	Ronald Koeman	Barcelona	8
  	Wynton Rufer	Werder Bremen	8
  1992/93	Romario	PSV Eindhoven	7

  Champions League all-time top scorers

  Erling Haaland still has a long way to go to break into the top 10 all-time Champions League goalscorer list based on some incredible performances since 1992.

• Cristiano Ronaldo is still the frontrunner, ahead of Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski.

• (Data correct as of November 6, 2024 and excludes qualifying rounds)

• 	Player	Team(s)	UCL goals	UCL games
  1.	Cristiano Ronaldo	Man United, Real Madrid, Juventus	140	183
  2.	Lionel Messi	Barcelona, PSG	129	163
  3.	Robert Lewandowski	Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Barcelona	99	124
  4.	Karim Benzema	Lyon, Real Madrid	90	152
  5.	Raul	Real Madrid, Schalke	71	142
  6.	Ruud van Nistelrooy	PSV, Man United, Real Madrid	56	73
  7.	Thomas Muller	Bayern Munich	54	152
  8.	Thierry Henry	AS Monaco, Arsenal, Barcelona	50	112
  9.	Andriy Shevchenko	Dynamo Kyiv, AC Milan, Chelsea	48	100
  =	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, AC Milan, PSG, Man United	48	124
  =	Kylian Mbappe	Monaco, PSG	49	77

  How to watch Champions League around the world

  	TV channel	Streaming
  Australia	—	Stan Sport
  Canada	—	DAZN
  India	Sony TEN	JioTV, Sony LIV
  UK	TNT Sport	discovery+
  USA	CBS, CBSSN, Univision, TUDN, UniMas	Fubo, Paramount+, ViX or ViX+