Lewandowski joins Ronaldo, Messi in exclusive 100 UCL goal club

Robert Lewandowski joined in Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as the only players in Champions League history with 100 or more goals.

Lewandowski’s early penalty kicked Barcelona off to a 3-0 win over previously unbeaten Brest to move into second place in the new single-league format. The Polish striker added goal no. 101 at halftime in the second half.

Ronaldo leads the all-time scoring list with 140 goals, and Messi is next with 129. However, neither Ronaldo nor Messi play in the Champions League anymore after moving to the Saudi Pro League and MLS respectively.

“I’m very happy, it’s a nice number to bring up. Many years ago I didn’t think I could score more than 100 goals in the Champions League. To join Messi and Ronaldo … I think they’re good , right?” Lewandowski told Movistar.

“For me the most important thing is that we try to win every game, if I can score then that’s the perfect solution,” he added.

Lewandowski, 36, required 125 games to reach the century mark, two more than Messi (123) and 12 fewer than Ronaldo (137).

Barça coach Hansi Flick, who also worked with Lewandowski at Bayern Munich, praised the striker’s performance.

“I also know him two years from Munich; there he also broke every record you can break. Now he also scores. It is important for us. But the whole team supports him. The other players will help him score the goals,” Flick said.

Barcelona also got a score in the second half from Dani Olmo as they returned to winning ways after two winless outings in LaLiga.

“I’m really happy that we won today and got three points, but also that we dominated the game and the opponent, defended well and attacked well,” Flick added.

“It was good to see. Of course in a long season there are some situations that we don’t expect, but in the end we came back and that was very important.

“I wouldn’t say everything was perfect, but it was a really good step after (the draw with Celta) Vigo. I miss a little bit the hunger to score more goals, but at the end of the day, three points is perfect.”

The eight best in the Champions League standings go directly to the round of 16 in March. Teams ranked ninth to 24th enter a knockout playoff round in February, while the bottom 12 teams are eliminated.

Barça’s win against Brest saw them climb to second place, with Flick keen to clinch a top eight spot as soon as possible with games against Borussia Dortmund, Benfica and Atalanta.

“When we start the new Champions League, the new format, it was our aim to reach the top eight, because then you have two more weeks (off) in February,” he said.

“But we know there are some deals (on the way). We have to play against Dortmund the next game. It will be tough, in Dortmund they are good, but I think we are ready for it and we can show it in Dortmund.”

ESPN’s Sam Marsden and The Associated Press contributed to this report.