Top 5 African UEFA Champions League Top Scorers In History
The UEFA Champions League is at the semifinal stage, but many will remember it is Guinea’s Serhou Guirassy who tops the top scorers’ list with 13 goals in the 14 appearances he has made this term-the most scored by an African in a single season of the competition.
Unfortunately, the Borussia Dortmund forward will have no further opportunity to add to his goals this season after the Bundesliga side crashed out albeit Guirassy netted a hat-trick in the 3-1 defeat of Barcelona in the quarterfinal stage.
So, who are the Africans that have scored 20 goals or more in the history of what clearly is the biggest club competition in the world?
Mo Salah: 47 Goals
Salah has netted 47 times in 88 appearances in the competition. The Egyptian, 32, featured for three clubs in the competition across 10 seasons.
He had his best scoring season in the 2017/18 season when he netted 10 times in 13 appearances for Liverpool albeit his goals were not enough to see them past Real Madrid who won 3-1 in the final.
Salah scored 44 of his 47 goals in 73 appearances for Liverpool, two in six games when he was at Swiss side, FC Basel 1893 and one in seven appearances for AS Roma.
Didier Drogba: 44 Goals
Until this season, Chelsea legend, Drogba was the top scoring African in the history of the competition. The Ivorian scored 44 goals in 92 appearances in the competition.
Drogba netted 36 of his 44 goals in 74 appearances for Chelsea, scoring six times in the 2011/12 season to fire the west London side to their first UEFA Champions League glory.
He also scored three times in 12 games for Turkish Super Lig side, Galatasaray and five in six appearances for French Ligue 1 side, Olympique Marseille.
Samuel Eto’o: 30 Goals
Eto’o has scored 30 times in the competition in 78 games across 10 seasons for four clubs.
Now 44, Eto’o had his best season in front of goal in the competition in the 2005/06 season when he scored six times in 11 games for Barcelona.
A three-time winner of the competition, Eto’o scored most of his 30 goals (16) in 38 appearances for Barcelona, 10 in 23 games for Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan, three in nine games for Chelsea and one goal in five matches for Mallorca.
Sadio Mane: 27 Goals
Former Liverpool star, Mane scored 27 times in 64 appearances in the competition across six seasons for just two clubs.
The Senegalese, who now plays in the Saudi Pro League for Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr FC was a Champions League winner with Liverpool.
He scored 10 goals in 11 games in the 2017/18 season for Liverpool, his highest in a single season in the competition.
As many as 24 of his 27 goals were scored in the 55 games he played for Liverpool in the competition with the remaining three coming in just nine games for Bayern Munich.
Riyad Mahrez: 20 Goals
Algerian Mahrez scored 20 goals in 55 games across six seasons in the competition for just two clubs: Leicester City and Manchester City.
Now 34 and playing in the Saudi Pro-League for Al-Ahli, Mahrez netted seven of his 20 goals in 12 appearances in the 2021/22 season for Manchester City. Overall, he scored 16 of his goals in 46 games for the Manchester based club and the remaining four in nine appearances for the Foxes.
