11 Greatest Striker Performances in Champions League History (Ranked)

In club football, no competition can claim to be as prestigious as the Champions League. A stage for all kinds of exploits, it allows those who know how to prove themselves worthy to get closer to the stars. Even, who knows, to become one themselves.

And of all the players who have ever competed in it, some have left an indelible mark, buoyed by one – or more – very special performances. A mark that will live on through the ages and which future generations will speak of with nostalgia. And, as is so often the case, that mark belongs to the deeds of a striker. Because most of the time, the striker is the one who has the power to turn the tide of a match, or even a qualification or an entire success.

As an ode to these singular players, GIVEMESPORT has compiled a list of the most legendary attacking performances in history. Memories that will send shivers of pleasure down your spine, just like a shot off the crossbar.

Ranking factors

• Importance – level of competition at which the performance was achieved
• Performance level – How close the feat is to an exploit
• Adversity – Opponent’s pedigree

11 Thierry Henry (vs Inter Milan)

2003/04 Group stage

• Game: Inter Milan vs Arsenal
• Venue: San Siro
• Attendance: 44,884

If Thierry Henry’s performance features at the bottom of this ranking, it is largely because it was achieved in the group phase. That should not, however, be taken lightly. Travelling to the San Siro is never easy. Especially against an Inter Milan side that had stunned Arsenal 3-0 at Highbury a few weeks earlier. A humiliation that the then-future Invincibles could not let go unpunished.

And it was through their legendary number 14 that they struck lightning. Scorer of two goals and two assists, the French international was the attacking leader of a team that eventually won 1-5 and exacted revenge on a renowned opponent. It was enough to cement his status as the Gunners’ greatest player of all time.

10 Kylian Mbappe (vs FC Barcelona)

2020/21 Round of 16

• Game: FC Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain
• Venue: Camp Nou
• Attendance: 0

There are matches in which the stakes inevitably take precedence over the game. The Round of 16 first leg of the 2020/21 Champions League between FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain is a perfect example. Four years after the debacle of the Remontada, the Parisians finally had the opportunity to exorcise their demons. And it was through one man, Kylian Mbappe, that their mission was accomplished.

Rarely had a player been as unstoppable as the Frenchman that evening. Sharp and with a hat-trick to his name, the Paris No7 seemed possessed by a goal that nothing and nobody could make him forget. Just ask Gerard Pique, whose – futile – attempt to stop him simply gave rise to a snapshot that has since gone down in history.

9 Karim Benzema (vs Paris Saint-Germain)

2022/23 Round of 16

• Game: Real Madrid vs Paris Saint-Germain
• Venue: Estadio Santiago-Bernabeu
• Attendance: 59,895

In 2022, rarely has a winner of the Ballon d’Or been so unanimously acclaimed. It has to be said that Karim Benzema was coming off an exceptional season, during which every match provided further proof of a talent that was just waiting to explode in the face of the world.

Take the second leg of the Round of 16 against Paris Saint-Germain, where, in the space of 17 minutes, the Real Madrid striker single-handedly brought down the French club, who were two goals ahead before the former Lyon man woke up. It was a quarter of an hour in which the ‘Nueve’ seemed to be touched by grace, even though his team had been almost unreal in their lethargy up until the hour mark. The mark of the greatest.

8 Cristiano Ronaldo (vs Atletico Madrid)

2018/19 Round of 16

• Game: Juventus vs Atletico Madrid
• Venue: Juventus Stadium
• Attendance: 40,884

Atletico Madrid have always been one of Cristiano Ronaldo’s favourite targets. In 37 games played against the Colchoneros, the Portuguese forward has almost always proved decisive (25 goals, nine assists), and at moments that are all the more important. The second leg of the Round of 16 in the 2018/19 edition is one of the most concrete examples of this. It was the ideal opportunity for the five-time Champions League winner to prove to the Juventus management, whom he had joined the previous summer, that they were right to invest in him.

Beaten 2-0 in the first leg, Massimiliano Allegri’s men faced a daunting challenge against a team renowned for its defensive solidity. Ronaldo, however, had nothing to fear as he scored a hat-trick to single-handedly overcome an opponent who perhaps thought they had finally been freed from their yoke. But that was to prove the Lusitanian superstar wrong.

7 Lionel Messi (vs Arsenal)

2009/10 Quarter-final

• Game: FC Barcelona vs Arsenal
• Venue: Camp Nou
• Attendance: 95,000

When it came to compiling this list, we had two choices: to focus on Lionel Messi’s performance against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012 (a five-goal haul in the second leg of the Round of 16) or his performance against Arsenal two years earlier? It has to be said that, exceptional as they were, the context of the second is certainly more important.

Firstly, because Barca were not in a favourable position after their quarter-final first leg, in which Pep Guardiola’s men were even held to a 2-2 draw by the Londoners. Secondly, the way the second leg played out put the Catalan club’s back against the wall after Niklas Bendtner had iced the Camp Nou crowd with his opener. But that evening, a young Argentinian decided to take his side’s fate into his own hands. And how, please! By becoming only the sixth player in the history of the Champions League to score four goals in a single match.

6 Ronaldo (vs Manchester United)

2002/03 Quarter-final

• Game: Manchester United vs Real Madrid
• Venue: Old Trafford
• Attendance: 66,708

The history of the Champions League is made up of great matches. The second leg of the 2002/03 quarter-final between Manchester United and Real Madrid was certainly one of them. And while the Red Devils came out on top, Ronaldo played the leading role.

Scorer of a hat-trick, the explosive Brazilian centre-forward, considered by many to be the best No9 of all time, more than contributed to his side’s qualification on aggregate. Three goals forced the thousands of spectators in the stands of the Theatre of Dreams to experience a veritable nightmare. Which, when you think about it, is enough to make you chuckle.

5 Cristiano Ronaldo (vs Atletico Madrid)

2016/17 Semi-final

• Game: Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid
• Venue: Estadio Santiago Bernabeu
• Attendance: 77,609

When it comes to ranking the best teams in history, Real Madrid’s performance in the 2016/17 season is a recurring theme. And rightly so. A brilliant generation, led by Portuguese striker Ronaldo, who won his fifth Ballon d’Or at the end of the campaign. Among his many outstanding performances that year, his hat-trick against Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the semi-final was particularly memorable.

Against their historic rivals, ‘CR7’ and his famous blonde locks made mincemeat of Diego Simeone’s men, mortgaging their chances of qualification even before the second leg. It was a historic performance for a player of historical stature.

4 Neymar (vs Paris Saint-Germain)

2016/17 Round of 16

• Game: Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain
• Venue: Camp Nou
• Attendance: 96,290

Some call Barca’s famous Remontada against Paris Saint-Germain the greatest match in the history of the Champions League. It was an unprecedented turn of events, with a scenario worthy of the greatest Hollywood blockbusters. And the main character is a player, the Brazilian striker Neymar.

While Edinson Cavani’s late winner seemed to have buried any hopes of a Catalan comeback, the Auriverde No7 believed in it right to the end. An exceptional goal from a free-kick in the 88th minute, a clinical penalty three minutes later and, at the end of stoppage time, Sergi Roberto’s pinpoint pass into the back of the Parisian defence. A royal performance that will live forever in the annals of the competition.

3 Robert Lewandowski (vs Real Madrid)

2012/13 Semi-final

• Game: Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid
• Venue: Signal Iduna Park
• Attendance: 65,829

If all streaks are made to be broken, the one Robert Lewandowski has tackled is one of the most prestigious. When Borussia Dortmund hosted Real Madrid in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in 2013, the Polish serial striker took the opportunity to make history.

Before that evening in April, no one had ever managed to find the back of the Spanish club’s net four times in a single European Cup match. A feat that illustrates the broad technical range developed over the years by the man who is now the third-highest scorer in the history of the competition (96).

2 Lucas Moura (vs Ajax)

2018/19 Semi-final

• Game: Ajax vs Tottenham
• Venue: Johan Cruyff Arena
• Attendance: 52,641

If the 2018/19 edition of the Champions League is considered by many to be among the best of all time, the double-header between Ajax and Tottenham certainly had something to do with it. Beaten 0-1 in front of their home fans in the first leg, Spurs had no choice but to win or perish. But against an Amsterdam side as exceptional as they were unexpected, having beaten the great Real Madrid, the task looked more than complicated.

It even became almost impossible when Matthijs de Ligt and Hakim Ziyech gave them a three-goal lead in the 35th minute of the second leg. But one man, Lucas Moura, had not given up. Starting in place of the injured Harry Kane, the Brazilian delivered one of the greatest individual performances of all time, scoring a hat-trick in less than 45 minutes to help Mauricio Pochettino’s men rise from the ashes and qualify for the first-ever Champions League final.

1 Lionel Messi (vs Bayern Munich)

2014/15 Semi-final

• Game: FC Barcelona vs Bayern Munich
• Venue: Camp Nou
• Attendance: 95,639

It is perhaps ironic that all three of Pep Guardiola’s semi-final defeats as Bayern Munich coach were against Spanish teams. But of all those encounters, the one against Barca is undoubtedly the most epic, and it was all down to one person: Messi, who had reached one of the different peaks of his career.

That evening, as so often, La Pulga was unstoppable. Two goals, an assist from Neymar and, above all, the image of Jerome Boateng humiliated by a hook from the Argentinian, who then set up Manuel Neuer, the best goalkeeper in the world, with a subtle dive. What can you do at a time like this? Nothing other than bow down to genius.

All data is correct as of 24/10/24.