Champions League is Synonymous With Real Madrid

The Champions League is arguably the best club competition in the world, as the greatest teams in Europe come together year in and year out to compete for the prestigious trophy. Many players have cemented their legendary status here in this competition, and most of them are synonymous with Real Madrid, the winningest team in history with 15 trophies.

Real Madrid are struggling in the current format because they are 20^th in the table with only nine points after a lacklustre run of Champions League 2025 results. But history and the Champions League 2025 odds suggest they’ll get back on track in no time.

A handful of Los Blancos icons make our list as some of the greatest players of the Champions League era. Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and Luka Modric quickly come to mind. But, of course, we would be remiss to leave out Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest footballer of all time.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo is considered Mr. Champions League because of his unprecedented success in the competition. He is the tournament’s all-time leading scorer, with a whopping 141 goals, and he also has five titles (four with Real Madrid and one with Manchester United) in 183 appearances across 19 seasons.

CR7 made his Champions League debut with Manchester United in 2003 during a 2-1 loss against VfB Stuttgart, where he earned a penalty. Since then, Ronaldo has made the Champions League his personal playground, creating highlights left and right with his sheer athleticism, pace, and predatory goalscoring skills.

After spending most of his prime years at Real Madrid and Juventus, Ronaldo returned to Manchester United and gave the fans more memorable performances. In his final salvo in the Champions League, Ronaldo scored various last-minute goals to help the Red Devils qualify for the Round of 16. Ronaldo eventually left Old Trafford to compete for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, and he is still going strong at age 39.

Karim Benzema

Karim Benzema also played a major role in Real Madrid’s recent dominance of the Champions League, as he took part in their victories in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2022. The Frenchman was content playing second fiddle to Cristiano Ronaldo, but Benzema came into his own when CR7 left the Bernabeu to join Juventus in 2018.

Benzema further cemented his status as one of the best strikers of this generation when he carried Los Blancos to their Champions League triumph in 2022, where he was the tournament’s leading scorer with 15 goals. Because of his goalscoring exploits that year, nobody was surprised when Karim Benzema won his first-ever Ballon d’Or. Benzema eventually joined Al-Ittihad in 2023 for a huge payday and has been declining steadily since he’s approaching his 40s.

Luka Modric

None of Real Madrid’s Champions League trophies would be possible if Luka Modric wasn’t there in the middle of the park. When Modric joined Los Blancos in 2012, many voted him as the La Liga’s worst signing after struggling in his first full season. However, after a challenging start to life at the Bernabeu, the Croatian playmaker took his game to extraordinary levels.

Luka Modric formed a powerful midfield triumvirate with Casemiro and Toni Kroos en route to winning five of his six Champions League trophies. He was reduced to a lesser role during last year’s victory, but there’s no doubt that Modric still has the quality to perform for Los Blancos.

Modric will turn 40 this September, but he is still one of the best passers in football. Real Madrid fans will surely remember his sublime outside-of-the-boot assist against Chelsea as the perfect example of his elite playmaking skills.

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi is second in the Champions League’s all-time scoring list with 129 goals. The Argentine international inspired Barcelona to four Champions League trophies between 2006 and 2015 through his unparalleled skill, vision, and ball-handling skills despite his diminutive stature.

Manchester United fans (like this SBOTOP writer) still have PTSD on Lionel Messi, as he scored vital goals during the 2009 and 2011 finals. Messi missed the 2006 final against Arsenal due to injury, but Barcelona still won anyway.

Lionel Messi couldn’t bring European glory to PSG, but that shouldn’t discount the fact that he is one of the greatest players to have played in this competition. In 2023, Messi took his talents to South Beach to play for Inter Miami in the MLS, and like Ronaldo, the one-time World Cup champion is showing no signs of slowing down at 37 years of age.

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