Champions League 40-goal club: Lionel Messi moves closer to Cristiano Ronaldo record

Lionel Messi is now just 11 goals short of Cristiano Ronaldo's all-time Champions League scoring record after another virtuoso performance from the Paris Saint-Germain forward on Tuesday night.

The Argentine scored twice and assisted two more as PSG thrashed Maccabi Haifa 7-2, moving on to 129 Champions League goals in the process.

A record 80 of those have now come in the group stage of the competition - from just 85 such matches - while Messi also became the oldest player to both score twice and assist twice in the same Champions League game.

The 40-goal club's newest member - Liverpool's Mohamed Salah - also moved level with Juventus legend Alessandro del Piero on 42 goals, but he remains one behind Neymar, who increased his tally to 43 in that PSG rout.

Here, Sports Mole looks at the latest standings in the Champions League 40-goal club.

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1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus)

Goals: 140 Appearances: 183 Ratio: 0.77

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2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain)

Goals: 129 Appearances: 160 Ratio: 0.81

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3. Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Barcelona)

Goals: 91 Appearances: 111 Ratio: 0.82

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4. Karim Benzema (Lyon, Real Madrid)

Goals: 86 Appearances: 145 Ratio: 0.6

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5. Raul (Real Madrid, Schalke 04)

Goals: 71 Appearances: 142 Ratio: 0.50

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6. Ruud van Nistelrooy (PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, Real Madrid)

Goals: 56 Appearances: 73 Ratio: 0.77

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7. Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)

Goals: 53 Appearances: 138 Ratio: 0.38

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8. Thierry Henry (Monaco, Arsenal, Barcelona)

Goals: 50 Appearances: 112 Ratio: 0.45

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9. Alfredo Di Stefano (Real Madrid)

Goals: 49 Appearances: 58 Ratio: 0.84

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10. Andriy Shevchenko (Dynamo Kiev, AC Milan, Chelsea)

Goals: 48 Appearances: 100 Ratio: 0.48

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11. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain)

Goals: 48 Appearances: 124 Ratio: 0.39

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12. Eusebio (Benfica)

Goals: 46 Appearances: 65 Ratio: 0.71

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13. Filippo Inzaghi (Juventus, AC Milan)

Goals: 46 Appearances: 81 Ratio: 0.57

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14. Didier Drogba (Marseille, Chelsea, Galatasaray)

Goals: 44 Appearances: 92 Ratio: 0.48

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15. Neymar (Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain)

Goals: 43 Appearances: 80 Ratio: 0.54

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16. Mohamed Salah (Basel, Roma, Liverpool)

Goals: 42 Appearances: 76 Ratio: 0.55

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17. Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus)

Goals: 42 Appearances: 89 Ratio: 0.47

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18. Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid, Manchester City)

Goals: 41 Appearances: 79 Ratio: 0.52

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