The UEFA Champions League is the most fiercely contested cup competition in club soccer. It takes immense technical quality and mental fortitude to stand out in this competition of champions, with only a handful managing to do so each year. The most tangible way of standing out is by finishing as the top scorer and winning the Golden Boot. Kylian Mbappe was the most recent winner of the award, with the then-Paris Saint-Germain forward scoring eight times to secure it in 2023-24.
While Mbappe did well to win his first UEFA Champions League Golden Boot, it was not one for the history books. Over the years, we have witnessed even more remarkable goalscoring performances from world-class forwards, and, today, we will check them out. Here are the five best exhibitions of goalscoring in a single UEFA Champions League campaign:
#5 Karim Benzema (Real Madrid – 2021/22): 15 Goals
Following Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure in 2018, Karim Benzema got the opportunity to become Real Madrid’s frontman. The Frenchman rose to the challenge and showed he was one of the best forwards the game has ever seen.
Benzema, who is currently plying his trade at Al-Ittihad, enjoyed the best season of his career in 2021-22. He scored 44 goals and provided 15 assists in 46 games in all competitions, with 15 of those goals coming in the UEFA Champions League (12 games).
Benzema scored two consecutive hat-tricks in the competition. The first one took Madrid to a comeback win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Round of 16 second leg. The second one came against Chelsea in the quarter-final first leg at Stamford Bridge. Benzema also scored in the return leg to help Madrid to a 5-4 aggregate win. Benzema turned up in the semi-final as well, scoring thrice in Madrid’s 6-5 aggregate win over Manchester City.
Before joining Al-Ittihad, Benzema played 152 matches in the Champions League, scoring 90 times and providing 30 assists.
#4 Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich – 2019/20): 15 Goals
Robert Lewandowski was by far the most ruthless goalscorer in the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League season. Despite playing only one-legged quarter-final and semi-final ties due to COVID-19, Lewandowski scored 15 goals. He also provided six assists in 10 matches as Bayern Munich won the UEFA Champions League.
Lewandowski, who has scored 94 times in 120 UEFA Champions League games, scored in every game except for the final in 2019-20. His best performance came in came in a Group B clash against Red Star Belgrade. The Polish striker scored four times as the Bavarians clinched a 6-0 victory.
#3 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid – 2017/18): 15 Goals
Cristiano Ronaldo comfortably won the UEFA Champions League Golden Boot in his last season at Real Madrid. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner scored 15 goals in 13 outings, helping Real Madrid become the first-ever team to win the coveted trophy in three consecutive seasons.
Ronaldo scored in 10 consecutive matches leading up to the semi-finals. He scored three goals against Borussia Dortmund, two goals against Tottenham Hotspur, and four goals against APOEL Nicosia in the group stage. In the Round of 16, he struck thrice against Paris Saint-Germain over two legs. His best performance, however, came against Juventus in the quarter-final first leg. He scored a brace, including a world-class overhead kick, to help Madrid to a 3-0 victory over the Bianconeri away from home. Fans inside the Allianz Stadium could not help but applaud the Portuguese as he scored one of the best goals in UCL history.
Ronaldo has 140 Champions League goals to his name (183 games), a whopping 105 (101 games) of which came during his time with Real Madrid.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid – 2015/16): 16 Goals
The only player in history to score over 900 career goals, Cristiano Ronaldo, lit up the UEFA Champions League in the 2015-16 season. The Portuguese icon scored for fun in the competition that season, notching 16 goals in 12 outings as Real Madrid won its 11th Champions League.
Ronaldo scored a whopping 11 goals in six group-stage games in 2015-16, scoring thrice in a 4-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk and four times in an 8-0 thumping of Malmo on Matchday 6. In the quarter-final second leg against VfL Wolfsburg, Ronaldo delivered arguably the best performance of his UCL career. After the Whites lost 2-0 in the first leg, he scored an otherworldly hat-trick to secure a 3-0 victory in the second leg, sending Madrid through to the semi-finals with a 3-2 aggregate scoreline.
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid – 2013/14): 17 Goals
Mr. Champions League Cristiano Ronaldo enjoyed his career-best goalscoring campaign in the 2013-14 season, scoring a record 17 goals in only 11 matches. His heroics helped Los Blancos to their 10th Champions League title, aka ‘La Decima’.
Ronaldo scored in 10 of the 11 UCL games he played in that season. He bagged a hat-trick in the tournament opener against Galatasaray, scored consecutive braces against FC Copenhagen and Juventus; repeated the double-brace feat in the Round of 16 clashes against Schalke, and scored a brilliant double in Real Madrid’s 4-0 victory over Bayern Munich in the semi-final second leg. He also scored (a penalty) as Los Merengues beat Atletico Madrid 4-1 in the final.
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