Ronaldo closes in on Van Nistelrooy and all-time Champions League top scorers

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The Portuguese, who has already struck five times in Europe this season, will draw level with the Dutchman if he nets against the Bianconeri at the Santiago Bernabeu

 

 

Cristiano Ronaldo will be out to overhaul Ruud van Nistelrooy and move into third place on the all-time Champions League goalscorers' list when Real Madrid take on Juventus on Wednesday night.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TOP 10 GOALSCORERS

NO.  PLAYER GOALS   1 Raul (above) 71   2 Lionel Messi 63   3 Ruud van Nistelrooy 56   4 Cristiano Ronaldo 55   5 Thierry Henry 50   6 Andriy Shevchenko 48   7 Filippo Inzaghi 46   8 Alessandro Del Piero 42   9 Didier Drogba 41 =10 Karim Benzema 33 =10 Fernando Morientes 33 =10 Zlatan Ibrahimovic 33

The Blancos ace has been in scintillating form in this season's tournament, having netted five times in his first two outings, against Galatasaray and Copenhagen, to take his tally in Europe's premier club cup competition (excluding qualifying rounds) to 55 goals from 94 matches.

Consequently, Ronaldo is now just one place and one goal behind former PSV, Manchester United and Madrid hot shot Van Nistelrooy.

The Dutchman, who will be fielding your questions on Twitter via @Heineken using #sharethesofa during Wednesday night's action, struck a staggering 56 times in just 73 appearances in the Champions League proper, meaning the now-retired striker averaged 0.77 goals per game.

Only Lionel Messi can boast a more impressive strike rate. The Barcelona superstar, who strengthened his grip on second place in the all-time top 10 with his first-half effort against AC Milan on Tuesday night, has now scored 63 goals in 81 matches, which works out at 0.78 goals per game.

If he maintains that consistency, Messi could conceivably usurp Real Madrid icon Raul at the summit of the standings as the Argentine is now just eight goals behind the Spanish striker, who netted 71 times in 144 games.