Most goals in a single UEFA Champions League season: Cristiano Ronaldo reigns supreme
Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record for the most goals in a single UCL season, having scored 17 times in the 2013-14 campaign.
Football
The UEFA Champions League features some of the finest strikers in the world and every season, fans are treated to a flurry of goals from these greats.
Legendary football players like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ferenc Puskas, Johan Cruyff and Gerd Muller have all won the UCL Golden Boot - given to the top scorer in each edition of Europe’s elite club championship.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the top scorer in UCL history with 140 goals in 183 appearances, also holds the record for scoring the most goals in a single UCL season - 17.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s landmark campaign came in the 2013-14 season when he slammed a whopping 17 goals for Real Madrid. Lionel Messi and Jose Altafini jointly held the previous record of 14 goals each.
AC Milan’s Jose Altafini, with 14 goals in the 1962-63 campaign, was the sole holder of the record for most goals in one UEFA Champions League season for almost 50 years before Lionel Messi, then playing for Barcelona, equalled the mark in 2011-12.
Most goals in a single UEFA Champions League season
Cristiano Ronaldo - 17 goals in 2013-14
Cristiano Ronaldo has been the top scorer in the UCL a record seven times with his first Golden Boot-winning campaign coming in 2007-08. However, the 2013-14 season stands out.
The Portuguese star scored 17 goals that season to guide Real Madrid to Champions League glory.
Cristiano Ronaldo opened his tally with a hat-trick against Galatasaray and followed it up by scoring six more to help Real Madrid top group B. The Portuguese legend scored four more in the round of 16, once in the quarter-final, twice in the semis and wrapped up the terrific season with another strike in the final against Atletico Madrid.
Ronaldo also assisted five times during the campaign.
Cristiano Ronaldo - 16 goals in 2015-16
After the record-breaking 2013-14 season, Ronaldo went on a scoring spree once again in 2015-16, netting 16 goals for Real Madrid and winning the UCL title once again.
The ace striker made an incredible start to the season with a hat-trick against Shakhtar Donetsk, followed by eight more in the group stage, including four against Malmo.
Ronaldo found the net two times in the round of 16 and struck another hat-trick in the quarter-finals. He didn’t score in the semis or the final but converted the winning kick in the penalty shootout against Atletico in the title decider.
Cristiano Ronaldo - 15 goals in 2017-18
Cristiano Ronaldo scored 15 times to take home the title for Real Madrid in the 2017-18 campaign and marked his third entry in the list for most goals in a single UEFA Champions League season.
Ronaldo scored twice in the opening fixture of the campaign vs APOEL and ended the group stage with nine goals. He added three in the pre-quarters and three more in the quarter-finals.
Cristiano Ronaldo could not register himself on the scoresheet in the semis and final but scored in 10 other matches in that campaign.
Robert Lewandowski - 15 goals in 2019-20
Bayern Munich became champions of Europe in 2019-20 and Robert Lewandowski’s 15 goals had an integral role to play in it.
Lewandowski scored nine times in the group stage, including a hat-trick against Red Star Belgrade, to help the Bavarians top the table with a goal difference of +19.
The Polish forward netted six more times before the final. He found the net in nine matches, coming close to Ronado’s record of scoring in 10 matches during a single UCL season.
Although Lewandowski didn't score in the final against Paris Saint-Germain, the Pole was also the joint-top assist provider in that campaign with six.
Karim Benzema - 15 goals in 2021-22
Former Real Madrid ace Karim Benzema did not have the best start to the season as he scored only five times in six group-stage matches. However, the knockouts saw the Frenchman shine.
Benzema knocked out PSG with a hat-trick in the round of 16 and followed it up with four more goals across two legs against Chelsea in the quarter-finals. The scoring spree continued in the semis and final as the forward scored three more times to end with 15 goals in the season.