When we look at football as a sport we see the Champions League as the peak of it. The most eyes are on the Champions League and the best players are in the Champions League, it is the most competitive and the most looked at when we think of the best player in the world. When the Ballon D'or is decided, most of the time the player will come from the Champions League winner. So who is the best player that has played in the Champions League and why?
Cristiano Ronaldo
When we talk about these players we are not necessarily saying that they are the BEST players who have played in the competition but we are looking at who has performed the best in the competition, and when we say that we look no further than Ronaldo. Known as Mr Champions League, Ronaldo is used to playing and performing at the highest level. He showed up at the biggest moments and when called upon he was there. He holds the record for the most goals in the history of the tournament at 140 and this will be a long-standing record we feel. He scored multiple important and clutch goals for his teams, especially in the knockout stages. Whichever team Ronaldo played for would instantly be favourites for the Champions League according to bookmakers like Boylesports, he exudes composure and talent and will always be remembered as Mr Champions League.
Lionel Messi
One of the biggest debates in football history has been Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi, now we will leave you as the judge of who is better but there's one thing for sure and that is, that they both knew how to perform in the Champions League. Messi won four Champions Leagues in his time at Barcelona and holds a lot of records for them too. In the Champions League, he has the most goals in the group stage with 80, the most goals in the round of 16 with 29 and the most goals for one club at 120, before his move to PSG. These are very impressive accolades and are one of the reasons why a lot of people consider Messi to be the greatest player of all time. When we talk about Messi, it is more than stats, there is a feeling you get when you watch Messi that is hard to come by and will be truly missed when he retires.
Andres Iniesta
When we talk about Inesta's ability, it is more than statistics. The way he played, the way he manoeuvred, the importance he had for Barcelona is more than stats. He had great composure in the big moments, was always a constant threat and is one of the reasons why Messi has such good statistics. When you have a player like Iniesta behind you, you are fed chances.
Luka Modric
Luka Modric is one of the best and most influential midfielders and players of the 21st century, he is also one of the greatest playmakers to grace the game. He was able to dominate and control a midfield as well as anyone and was the heart and soul of the Real Madrid team that won 3 Champions Leagues in a row. He won the Champions League 5 times during his career and also won a Ballon Dor after a stellar 2018 campaign where he won the Champions League and captained his international team to a World Cup final. He was the first person to break the streak of Messi and Ronaldo winning the Ballon Dor to much controversy. However, we believe he deserved it that year and a midfielder winning it over a striker is always more interesting to us.
Who do we think the best player is?
Every player we mentioned is great and deserves a shout at being the best player the Champions League has seen but when we look at it objectively, Messi and Ronaldo are a level above everyone else. So out of the two, we think in the Champions League Ronaldo has been better, purely for his big moments, the amount of time he won them and the sheer amount of goals he scored. However, we do think that overall Messi is a better player, but we can't ignore Ronaldo’s Champions League legacy.