10 Greatest British Players in Champions League History [Ranked]

The UEFA Champions League is undoubtedly the pinnacle of European club football. Founded in 1955, the European Cup has been the gold standard of competition, with clubs all over the continent vying for their place in it.

Many players aspire to one day win the coveted trophy, and add ‘Champions League winner’ to their football resumes. Few get to achieve such a feat, with the competition being won 16 times by British clubs, but only spread between seven clubs. Celtic are the only Scottish team to have won the competition, doing so in the 1966/67 season. Liverpool are by far the most-decorated British team, having won it six times, while Manchester United and Chelsea are the only other clubs to have won it on multiple occasions, with three wins and two wins, respectively.

GIVEMESPORT has named 10 of the best British players to have featured in the competition.

Ranking Factors

• Appearances – number of times a player featured in the competition
• Statistical data – goals scored, assists provided etc.
• Performances in big moments – were they part of making history such as scoring in a final?
• Trophies – how many titles they won during their career
• Impact on team – how crucial were their goals, assists, and overall performances?
• Legacy left on the competition

10

Paul Lambert

Borussia Dortmund

Paul Lambert makes this list solely because he won the competition in the 1996/97 season, when he was a member of Borussia Dortmund. In that run to the title, the Scottish defensive midfielder played a crucial role, making 11 appearances, scoring a goal to help salvage a 2-2 draw in the group stages against Widzew Lodz.

He also provided arguably the most important assist of his career when he played a sublime cross from outside the area to Karl-Heinz Riedle to open the scoring in what turned out to be a 3-1 victory over a star-powered Juventus side that featured the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps in that 1997 final in Munich.

9

Harry Kane

Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich

Harry Kane has featured in seven Champions League iterations since the 2016/17 season, five of which came when with Tottenham Hotspur. Now in Germany with six-time winners Bayern Munich, he has a much better chance of clinching his first European honours.

So far in his career, England’s all-time leading scorer has provided an impressive return in front of goal, scoring 34 goals and 10 assists in just 49 appearances – virtually one goal involvement per game. Thirteen of those goals, and five of those assists, have come for the German giants, with the 31-year-old looking hungrier than ever to taste that silverware. He has scored more goals in the competition than any other Englishman.

8

Paul Scholes

Manchester United

Paul Scholes enjoyed almost two decades playing for Manchester United in the Champions League, in which he made 124 appearances – the second-most by a British player in the competition’s history.

Arguably the most intelligent British footballer ever, Scholes was a core part of the Red Devils’ midfield, scoring at least one goal in 11 different European campaigns, and scoring 24 goals overall. He also tallied 12 assists, four of which came during the historic 1998/99 treble-winning season, where Man United came from behind to beat Bayern Munich at the Camp Nou.

However, he would not feature in that match, having been suspended after picking up a booking in their semi-final bout with Juventus, along with Roy Keane.

7

John Terry

Chelsea

John Terry was a stalwart in defence for Chelsea for almost his entire career, and in the Champions League, under the brightest lights of them all, he never faltered once. Making 109 appearances in the competition in 13 successive years from 2003/04 to 2015/16 – all for the Blues, he would score 10 times.

While his spot kick in the 2008 final against domestic rivals Man United ultimately cost his club the chance of winning the cup that year, after an unfortunate slip in the Moscow rain, it would take Terry just four seasons to avenge that loss… sort of. After leading his side to the final against Munich in 2012, Terry was suspended for that game after being brandished with a straight red card in Chelsea’s semi-final second-leg against Barcelona. Nonetheless, after the Blues came out victorious, Terry was ready with his full kit on to lift the trophy. Iconic(ish).

6

Steve McManaman

Real Madrid

One of the finest dribblers to have ever graced the sport, and earning high praise from England legend Sir Stanley Matthews, Steve McManaman won two titles in four seasons when playing for Real Madrid.

Perhaps being best known – in his playing career – for being one of his boyhood club Liverpool’s greatest ever wingers, McManaman would never feature for the Reds in the Champions League during his nine seasons at Anfield. As such, his move to Spain opened up the opportunity for him to perform on the biggest stage in European club football, and he thrived.

Making 43 appearances for Los Blancos, the tricky winger scored five goals, including in the 1999/00 final against Valencia, in which he scored the second goal in a 3-0 victory, with legendary figures in their own rights, Fernando Morientes and Raul scoring the other two goals on the night.

5

Ryan Giggs

Manchester United

In his storied career in which he spent all 23 years of his playing career with the Red Devils, Ryan Giggs made 141 appearances in the Champions League, which is the 11th-most in the competition’s history. However, it is the most appearances that any British player has made by some margin.

During his illustrious career in Europe, the Welshman – who is considered one of the most naturally gifted players in British history – scored 30 goals, including two scored in the qualification rounds, and contributed an additional 48 assists. Like his former teammate Scholes, Giggs would be part of the famous treble-winning squad that won in dramatic fashion in 1999, and also played a role in Man United winning the European Cup again in 2008 against domestic rivals, Chelsea.

4

Frank Lampard

Chelsea, Manchester City

Frank Lampard is one of Chelsea’s greatest-ever players, scoring a club-record 211 goals in his career from midfield. Twenty-three of those came in the Champions League, including one in the 2008 final held in Moscow – a forgettable night for the Blues after losing to Premier League rivals Man United on penalties. Nonetheless, this goalscoring return is the second-most in the competition’s history by a midfielder – behind that of Scholes, who scored one more than his Three Lions compatriot.

Furthermore, Lampard also assisted 27 of his 173 assists on the biggest European stage and has since gone on to somewhat influence Chelsea’s cup-winning run in the 2020/21 season, overseeing the club’s progression from the group stages into the knockout rounds as manager before being relieved of his duties mid-season.

3

Steven Gerrard

Liverpool

Steven Gerrard has a knack for coming up clutch in the biggest moments and when the game is fully on the line, especially in the Champions League, which has led to some of the competition’s most iconic moments.

Featuring 73 times in the competition, the ‘complete midfielder’ scored 21 times and assisted 14 more goals. However, no contribution was more important – perhaps in his entire career – than his goal that sparked Liverpool’s famous comeback against AC Milan in Istanbul in 2005, with his header in the second half helping erase a three-goal deficit in six minutes to send the game to extra time and penalties.

With Pepe Reina coming up trumps with his shot-stopping, Gerrard didn’t have to take the final penalty, and Champions of Europe for the fifth time they became.

2

Wayne Rooney

Manchester United

One of the greatest strikers to play the game in the 21st century, Man United’s Wayne Rooney made 85 appearances over an 11-year span with the club, where he recorded 51 goal involvements, including finding the back of the net 30 times.

Whilst during his time at Old Trafford he was part of many successful squads under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson, Rooney would only ever win one Champions League title, despite making three finals, coming in that infamous battle with London rivals Chelsea in Moscow in 2008. He would score in the 2011 final against Barcelona to level the score at 1-1 in the first half, though it would prove to be in vain after they suffered a 3-1 defeat against Lionel Messi and co on home turf at Wembley Stadium.

1

Gareth Bale

Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid

Arguably the greatest ever British player to participate in the Champions League, Gareth Bale’s success in the competition came after he moved to Spain to become one of a line of Galacticos for Madrid.

Winning five titles between 2014 and 2022, Bale had some iconic moments in Europe, but none came close to his brace in the 2018 final against Liverpool, where, after coming on as a substitute on the hour mark, he would mark his introduction with an acrobatic bicycle kick that defied gravity just two minutes later. His second of the evening, which sealed the Reds’ fate, came with 10 minutes remaining when his long-range effort was fumbled by Loris Karius.

Having made nine appearances in the competition when with Tottenham Hotspur, in which he tallied seven goal contributions, Bale would make an additional 57 for Madrid, adding another 16 goals and 14 assists.

All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt, and FBRef – accurate as of 21/12/2024.

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