The 7 players to score in multiple Champions League finals: Messi… | OneFootball

Scoring in a Champions League final is the dream of every footballer and to do it even once is enough to forever be etched in history. To do it twice is almost unheard of, and only seven players have accomplished this remarkable feat since the competition began.

Winning multiple Champions Leagues has been achieved by a fair number of players at top teams, but to step up and score in the biggest game of all takes sheer quality and mental fortitude, which is why only a few players have.

The majority of these players are attackers, and almost all of them were world-class players who achieved greatness in their careers.

We’ve listed the seven players to do it in two finals. Could Mohamed Salah, Karim Benzema or Sadio Mane be about to join this exclusive club?

Cristiano Ronaldo

Mr Inevitable himself, Ronaldo managed to score in three different finals for two different clubs.

The Portuguese superstar opened the scoring in the 2008 final between Manchester United and Chelsea in Moscow which was ultimately decided on penalties, where Ronaldo missed from the spot.

Ronaldo then scored a 120th-minute penalty against Atletico Madrid to help secure La Decima, before scoring twice against Juventus in the 2017 final.

Greatness personified.

Lionel Messi

Messi has won four Champions League titles and scored in half of his victorious final appearances.

A header against Ronaldo’s Manchester United in 2009 helped Barcelona to a 2-0 victory at the Stadio Olimpico before he produced a masterclass to beat the same opponents two years later.

He was the bane of Sir Alex Ferguson during the Scot’s reign as Manchester United boss, and the legendary manager later admitted his regret about Messi’s final goal in 2011.

“I should have changed at half-time and put Park Ji-sung on Messi,” Ferguson stated 10 years after the final at Wembley.

“That was a mistake… I was going to do it at half-time, then I said: ‘Well, we just equalised before half-time, they may see the game differently, we may grow into the game better.’

“We were actually quite good in the last 10 minutes of that half. We came into it and we could have been in front. But if I’d played Park against Messi, I think we’d have beat them. I really do.”

Raul

One of a few legendary Real Madrid stars to appear on this list, Raul Gonzalez established himself as one of Real’s greatest players ever during the 2000s and scored in both the 2000 and 2002 finals as Real Madrid won two titles in three years.

The Spaniard scored the third in a 3-0 win over Valencia in 2000 at the Stade de France before scoring the opener against Bayer Leverkusen at Hampden Park two years later.

His goal against Leverkusen was overshadowed somewhat by *that* strike from Zinedine Zidane, but it encompassed what the speedy forward was all about, and even involved a long throw from Roberto Carlos.

Mario Mandzukic

The only player on this list to have played for neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona, Mandzukic truly was the man for the big occasion.

The Croatian striker opened the scoring at Wembley in Bayern Munich’s win over Borussia Dortmund in 2013, before equalising in stunning fashion as Juventus eventually fell to defeat against Real Madrid four years later.

One of the great final goals, Juventus kept the ball in the air before Mandzukic scored a stunning overhead kick just minutes after Ronaldo opened the scoring.

Mandzukic would go on to score in a World Cup final, cementing his status as a Croatia legend and one of the most underrated forwards of his generation.

Sergio Ramos

Forget Messi and Ronaldo, there was no one more inevitable on the big occasions than Sergio Ramos.

As Real Madrid trailed against their rivals Atletico when chasing La Decima in 2014, it was their captain who stepped up in injury time to power a header beyond Thibaut Courtois.

This goal took the game to extra time, where Real Madrid eventually had too much for their noisy neighbours and secured their first Champions League in 12 years.

Real would then face Atletico again in 2016, and who else would open the scoring apart from Ramos?

The Spaniard latched onto Gareth Bale’s header to poke the ball beyond Jan Oblak and Real went on to win on penalties at the San Siro.

No one hates Ramos more than Diego Simeone…

Gareth Bale

A player who has never quite been given the credit he deserves at Real Madrid, Bale scored the decisive goal in extra time to make it 2-1 to Real Madrid as they secured La Decima, before completely dominating the 2018 final.

With the score against Liverpool stood at 1-1, Bale produced one of the great Champions League goals of the century, powering an overhead kick beyond Loris Karius to make it 2-1.

Bale then ended the final with a shot from outside the box which found the back of the net but should have been saved by Karius.

His time at Real Madrid is coming to a bitter end, but he has formed a large part of their recent success.

Samuel Eto’o

The Cameroonian legend proved himself to be the bane of English teams in Europe during his time at Barcelona.

Eto’o equalised against Arsenal in 2006 before Juliano Belletti scored the winner in Paris, and followed that up with the opener against Manchester United in 2009.

Eto’o would go on to win again with Inter and was one of the best strikers European football has seen.