Kylian Mbappé reached another remarkable Champions League milestone last night, equalling Real Madrid legend Raúl González as the fifth-highest goalscorer in the competitions history
The Frenchman now has 95 G/A in just 99 Champions League games, yet one major thing remains missing from his European CV: the trophy itself.
And he is certainly not alone. Some of football’s greatest-ever players have ended their careers without getting their hands on the Champions League.
From World Cup winners and Ballon d’Or legends to players who suffered repeated final heartbreak, we’ve ranked the 10 greatest players never to win the Champions League.
10. Ruud van Nistelrooy
It feels almost impossible that a striker as prolific in this competition as Ruud van Nistelrooy never won it.
The Dutchman scored 56 Champions League goals in just 73 appearances, finishing as the competition’s top scorer three times.
His timing did not help. Van Nistelrooy joined Manchester United two years after their famous 1999 triumph and left two years before they won it again in 2008. A subsequent spell at Real Madrid failed to deliver European glory either.
9. Antoine Griezmann
Antoine Griezmann has won a World Cup and Europa League and collected plenty of individual honours, but both a league title and Champions League remain absent from his trophy cabinet.
His best opportunity came with Atlético Madrid in the 2016 Champions League final against Real Madrid.
Griezmann converted in the shootout, but Real ultimately prevailed on penalties. With the Frenchman’s career now in its latter stages, that night remains his closest brush with European football’s biggest prize.
8. Patrick Vieira
A World Cup winner, European champion and captain of Arsenal’s Invincibles, Patrick Vieira achieved almost everything during an incredible career.
The Champions League was the glaring exception.
What makes his story particularly painful is the timing. Vieira left Arsenal the summer before they reached the 2006 final, then departed Inter midway through the season in which José Mourinho led them to the trophy in 2010.
7. Cesc Fàbregas
Cesc Fàbregas made more than 100 appearances in the Champions League but could never quite get his timing right.
He was part of the Arsenal side beaten by Barcelona in the 2006 final, before eventually returning to his boyhood club in 2011 – just months after Barça had lifted the trophy.
Then, after three seasons in Catalonia, he left for Chelsea in 2014. Barcelona promptly won the Champions League again the following season. Talk about bad timing…
6. Eric Cantona
Eric Cantona was the catalyst behind Manchester United’s dominance of English football during the 1990s, but European success proved much harder to come by.
United reached the Champions League semi-finals in Cantona’s final season before his shock retirement in 1997.
Two years later, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side completed the Treble with that famous comeback against Bayern Munich at Camp Nou.
5. Gianluigi Buffon
Few players came closer to winning the Champions League without ever actually doing it than Gianluigi Buffon.
The legendary goalkeeper reached three finals with Juventus – in 2003, 2015 and 2017 – and lost all three.
Buffon even moved to PSG late in his career as he continued his pursuit of the one major trophy missing from his collection, but European glory continued to elude him.
4. Sergio Agüero
Sergio Agüero left Manchester City as the club’s record goalscorer and one of the greatest strikers in Premier League history.
But despite City’s domestic dominance during his decade at the club, Champions League success repeatedly proved elusive.
Agüero finally reached the final in 2021, but after an injury-hit campaign, he was restricted to a late substitute appearance as Chelsea beat City 1-0. It proved to be his final game for the club.
City eventually lifted the trophy two years later.
3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Ajax. Juventus. Inter. Barcelona. AC Milan. PSG. Manchester United.
Zlatan Ibrahimovi? represented some of Europe’s biggest clubs, but somehow never won the Champions League.
His timing was particularly brutal. Zlatan left Inter for Barcelona in 2009 and watched his former club win the Champions League the following season. He then left Barça in 2010, and they won it in 2011.
2. Kylian Mbappé
At this point, Kylian Mbappé could be forgiven for wondering what he has to do.
His personal Champions League numbers are extraordinary: 99 appearances, 71 goals, 24 assists and five hat-tricks, averaging a goal every 108 minutes.
But the timing of his career moves has been almost comically unfortunate.
He spent seven seasons at PSG and reached the final once. Meanwhile, Real Madrid continued collecting Champions Leagues while he was repeatedly linked with a move to Spain.
Mbappé finally joined Madrid after their latest triumph, only to watch PSG – the club he had just left – win the competition in each of the next two seasons.
1. Ronaldo Nazário
Two Ballon d’Ors. Two World Cups. One of the most devastating strikers football has ever seen.
But no Champions League.
Ronaldo represented Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and AC Milan, yet Europe’s biggest club prize somehow escaped him throughout his career.
He certainly produced Champions League moments worthy of a champion. His iconic hat-trick for Real Madrid against Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2003 remains one of the competition’s great individual performances.
Ronaldo won the UEFA Cup with Inter and the Cup Winners’ Cup with Barcelona, but never reached the same heights in the Champions League.
