Every UEFA Champions League season's top scorer since its start in 1992

The European Cup changed its name to the UEFA Champions League for the 1992-93 season, and has continued to be the most outstanding club competition in the world. Here are the top scorers of each Champions League season. All stats per Transfermarkt.

In the first season the competition was rebranded the Champions League, PSV's Romario was the top scorer, netting seven goals. He scored a hattrick against AEK Athens in the Second Round second leg.

As a defender, Ronald Koeman knew where the back of the net was, scoring eight goals for FC Barcelona in the 93/94 Champions League season. He helped Barça reach the final, where they lost to AC Milan.

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PSG's George Weah scored in five of the six group games in the 94/95 Champions League and netted eight overall as PSG made it to the semi-finals, ultimately losing to AC Milan.

Finnish football legend Jari Litmanen scored nine goals for Ajax in the 95/96 Champions League, including a hat-trick in the group stages against Ferencvaros. He scored against Juventus in the final, but they lost 5-3 on penalties.

Atlético Madrid's Milinko Pantic is the lowest top scorer in the Champions League's history, having scored only five goals in the 96/97 edition of the tournament.

Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero scored ten goals in as many games in the 97/98 Champions League, helping Juve reach the final, where they lost 1-0 to Real Madrid. His hat-trick against Monaco in the semi-final is a performance to remember.

Dynamo Kiev's Andry Shevchenko and Manchester United's Dwight Yorke shared the spoils in 98/99, with both players scoring eight goals. Yorke's eight were crucial in helping Manchester United win the trophy for the first time since 1968.

Barcelona's Rivaldo, Real Madrid's Raul, and Porto's Jardel all scored ten goals in the 99/00 edition of the tournament. Jardel's Porto reached the quarter-finals, Rivaldo's Barcelona reached the semi-finals, and Raul scored in the final for Madrid as they beat Valencia 3-0.

Andriy Shevchenko moved to AC Milan and continued his rich scoring form in the competition, netting nine goals for the Italian giants. He scored three goals against Besiktas in two games.

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Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy was the top scorer during the 01/02 campaign, scoring ten goals for United. He scored in six-games in a row and netted one in the semi-final first leg against Bayer Leverkusen.

Van Nistelrooy was top scorer in successive seasons in 02/03, scoring 12 goals in an impressive nine games. He scored in each of the first seven games he played, including three braces.

Monaco's Fernando Morientes was the catalyst in the French club's shock run to the final in 2004, scoring nine goals. He scored in both legs of the quarter-final against Real Madrid and both legs of the semi-final against Chelsea. He couldn't carry on his scoring streak in the final.

The Dutchman was the top scorer in the Champions League for a third time in 04/05 despite Manchester United only reaching the last 16. He was prolific in the group stage and scored four goals against Sparta Prague in United's 4-1 home win in November 2004.

The 05/06 campaign was the third season Shevchenko was the top scorer in the tournament, scoring nine goals, but failing to put right Milan's shock defeat in the 2005 final to Liverpool, losing in the semi-final against Barcelona.

AC Milan's Kaka won the Ballon d'Or in 2007 thanks to his vintage performances and goals in the Champions League that saw Milan beat Liverpool in the final. The Brazilian netted ten goals in the campaign, including his two outrageous finishes against Manchester United in the semi-finals.

Like Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo won his first Ballon d'Or in 2008 thanks to his eight goals in the Champions League, which saw Manchester United defeat Chelsea on penalties in the final. He scored a sublime leaping header in the final to put United 1-0 up.

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The 08/09 campaign was the start of an impressive run for Barcelona's Lionel Messi. The Argentine scored nine goals in the Champions League, including two in the quarter-finals against Bayern Munich and a header in the final against Manchester United.

He followed up the next season with eight goals in the competition, helping Barcelona to the semi-final stages following a four-goal performance against Arsenal at the Nou Camp.

He netted an extraordinary 12 in 13 in the Champions League the next season, scoring four braces and a crucial goal in the final against Manchester United, which helped them win 3-1 at Wembley Stadium.

Messi was the top scorer for a fourth successive year in 2011/12, netting 14 goals in 11 games. He scored five goals against Leverkusen in the last 16 second leg and netted a hattrick against Viktoria Plzen away from home in the group stages.

Cristiano Ronaldo finally got his crown back as the tournament's top scorer, scoring 12 in 12, including a hat-trick against Ajax in the group stages. The Portuguese forward scored 55 in 55 for Real Madrid that season.

Ronaldo continued his goalscoring prowess in the season following, scoring a record-breaking 17 goals in the tournament. He had netted 14 goals by the time his Real Madrid team faced Borussia Dortmund in the quarter-final second leg, and scored twice in the semis and once in the final to help Madrid past their neighbours Atlético in the final.

Barcelona's Neymar decided to join the Messi and Ronaldo party in 2014/15, with all three netting 10 goals in the campaign. Neymar netted seven goals from the quarter-final to the final, while Messi scored eight goals in the group stage. The pair linked up perfectly to help Barça lift the trophy against Juventus.

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Ronaldo was yet again instrumental in helping Real Madrid win another Champions League, scoring 16 goals in 12 games and netting three hat-tricks in the process. His three goals in the quarter-final second leg against Wolfsburg, when Madrid were 2-0 down, is one of the most clutch performances of all time.

By this point, Ronaldo was a pure machine in the competition, scoring a hat-trick in the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and a brace in the final to help Real Madrid beat Juventus 4-1. He finished with 12 goals in 13 games.

The last season Cristiano Ronaldo topped the scoring charts was the 2017/18 season, where he scored all 15 goals in the opening ten games of the competition. He didn't score in the semifinals or final, but Madrid still got the job done against Liverpool, thanks mainly to Gareth Bale.

Lionel Messi's final season as the Champions League top scorer ended with 12 goals in 10 games, including a hat-trick against PSV in the opening game week. Messi and Barcelona let a 3-0 lead slip in the semi-finals, losing 4-0 away at Anfield to Liverpool in the second leg.

Robert Lewandowski fired Bayern Munich to Champions League glory in 2020, scoring 15 goals in ten games. He scored in every game he played except for the final, including four against Red Star Belgrade, three in the last 16 against Chelsea, and a goal each against Barcelona and Lyon in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Erling Haaland had fully broken on to the scene in Europe for Borussia Dortmund in the 2020/21 season, netting eight goals in ten games. He scored four goals in two games against Seville to help Dortmund reach the quarter-finals.

Karim Benzema scored hat-tricks against PSG and Chelsea and three goals over two legs against Manchester City to fire Real Madrid to the Champions League final against Liverpool, where they won 1-0. Benzema scored 15 goals in 12 matches in the campaign.

Haaland scored 52 goals in 53 games in Manchester City's treble winning campaign, including 12 goals in 11 games in the Champions League. His five-goal performance against RB Leipzig is one of the greatest finishing displays ever seen.

In Kylian Mbappé's final season with PSG, he shared the Champions League top scorer award with Bayern Munich's Harry Kane, with both of them netting eight goals. Kane and Mbappé were knocked out of the tournament in the semi-finals.

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