Lewandowski joins Ronaldo, Messi as only players to score 100 UCL goals

Robert Lewandowski joined an exclusive club Tuesday, becoming just the third player to reach 100 career Champions League goals.

The veteran striker hit the century mark when he slotted home an early penalty kick to open the scoring in Barcelona's league phase match against Brest. He added another goal in the closing seconds, bringing his tally to 101 and capping Barca's comfortable 3-0 victory over the French club.

All-time top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo (141) and Lionel Messi (129) are the only other players to reach the 100-goal plateau in Europe's premier club competition. One of Ronaldo's goals came in qualifying, leaving him with 140 in the tournament proper.

Lewandowski leads this season's Champions League with seven goals in five matches.

"I am very happy. Many years ago, I did not think I could score more than 100 goals in the Champions League," the Polish star said afterward. "For me, the most important thing is that we try to win every game. If I can score, then that's the perfect solution."

The 36-year-old shows no signs of slowing down. He's also the top scorer in La Liga, having found the net 15 times on the campaign. Nobody else in Spain's top flight has more than eight goals this season.

Lewandowski did the bulk of his scoring damage in the Champions League with Bayern Munich after joining the German giants from rivals Borussia Dortmund. Now at Barca and prospering under Hansi Flick, he'll look to continue closing in on club icon Messi on the tournament scoring chart.

Lewandowski has won the Champions League once in his career, with Bayern in 2020, and was a runner-up with Dortmund in 2013.