UEFA Champions League 2025-26: Star Players of the Season

A 189-match season spread across a league phase and four knockout rounds gives players two very different kinds of opportunity: the volume of league phase fixtures rewards durability, while the knockout rounds reward players who decide isolated, high-pressure evenings. The 2025-26 campaign produced both, from Kylian Mbappé‘s scoring record to Kai Havertz‘s goal in the final.

Kylian Mbappé Led the Scoring Charts

Mbappé finished as the competition’s leading scorer with 15 goals, the highest single-season total of the campaign and the clearest statistical marker of the season. His output carried PSG from 11th place in the league phase through the play-off and every knockout round to the final in Budapest. A Champions League top-scorer award is decided on goals alone across the whole competition, and Mbappé’s margin at the top reflected both volume and importance.

Ousmane Dembélé: The Final Hero

Dembélé finished second on the scoring chart with 11 goals and supplied the decisive moment of the season. His penalty in the 65th minute of the final levelled the score at 1-1 against Arsenal, and PSG went on to win the shootout 4-3. A wide forward comfortable cutting inside, he was the attacking outlet PSG turned to whenever the game tightened.

Arsenal’s Front Line: Havertz, Gyökeres and Saka

Arsenal’s scoring strength came from three forwards. Kai Havertz and Viktor Gyökeres finished joint third on 10 goals each, and Bukayo Saka completed the confirmed top six on nine. Havertz also scored the opening goal of the final in the sixth minute. Behind them, Martin Ødegaard supplied the creative passing that carried a team which lost no league phase match.

Harry Kane and the Bayern Core

Harry Kane finished joint sixth on nine goals while Bayern Munich ended the league phase second with 21 points and the best finish by any German club. Kane’s role has widened beyond pure finishing: he occupies the central attacking position, drops deeper to link play and remains the reference point for a Bayern side that won seven of its eight league phase matches.

Real Madrid’s Champions: Bellingham and Vinícius Júnior

Jude Bellingham and Vinícius Júnior were the central figures in a Real Madrid campaign that ended in elimination during the league phase. The defending 2024-25 holders arrived with tournament pedigree and left before the knockout rounds began, a reminder that the expanded league phase leaves little margin for a slow start.

The Creative Middle Across the Field

Elsewhere, Pedri drove Barcelona’s 5th-place finish, Mohamed Salah was Liverpool’s most dangerous attacker in a campaign that ended 3rd, Victor Osimhen carried Napoli’s attacking threat, and Vitinha and Bruno Fernandes supplied the midfield tempo for Paris Saint-Germain and Benfica. Robert Lewandowski remained Barcelona’s reference striker.

For the complete scoring order, see our top scorers page.