Lewandowski chasing Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland’s impressive Champions League goalscoring record
This Wednesday, Barcelona will play their fourth match of the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League group stage. They face Club Brugge at the Jan Breydel Stadium, looking for a win that would move them closer to qualifying for the round of 16. Robert Lewandowski will also aim to close in on a mark held by Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland.
Right now, Lewandowski ranks as the third-best goalscorer by average in the modern history of the Champions League, since the competition’s format change in 1992. He has scored 105 goals in 135 matches across his time with Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona — an impressive average of 0.78 goals per game.
Only two players boast better numbers. One is Lionel Messi, who scored 129 goals during his years with Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain — the second-highest total in Champions League history — across 163 matches. That gives the Argentine star an average of 0.79, just slightly higher than Lewandowski’s.
However, those figures pale in comparison to the performances of Erling Haaland. The Norwegian forward, just 25 years old, has shattered all benchmarks and sits comfortably atop the ranking. Between Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City, Haaland has scored 53 goals in 51 matches, averaging an incredible 1.05 goals per game.
How far is Lewandowski from becoming the Champions League’s all-time top scorer?
Beyond chasing a higher goals-per-game average and surpassing Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski also faces the challenge of becoming the all-time leading scorer in Champions League history. He currently sits third with 105 goals, and notably, the players ahead of him are no longer competing in Europe.
The all-time top scorer in the Champions League is Cristiano Ronaldo. With Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus, the Portuguese forward netted 141 goals in 187 matches — an average of 0.75, just slightly below Lewandowski’s. Behind him are Messi’s 129 goals.
The other record Lewandowski is chasing in the Champions League
Given his age, it’s hard to imagine Lewandowski having enough time to score the 24 goals that separate him from Messi, let alone the 36 required to catch Cristiano Ronaldo. However, there’s another record the Polish striker could reach — possibly even this season.
At the moment, Lionel Messi holds the record for scoring against the most different teams in the Champions League, with a total of 40. Lewandowski is second on that list, having scored against 38 different European clubs.
On his pending list, Robert has several teams he’ll face soon: Club Brugge, Eintracht Frankfurt, Slavia Praha, and Copenhagen are opponents that have yet to concede a goal to Lewandowski but will take on Barcelona in the coming weeks. With goals in just two of those matches, the Polish forward would tie Messi at the top of the ranking.