Pepe: Top 10 oldest players to score in the Champions League

On November 7, 2023, Portuguese central defender Pepe went into the history books as the oldest player to ever score a goal in the UEFA Champions League.

The historic goal in question came in the 91st minute of Porto's 2-0 win at home to Royal Antwerp as the 40-year-old connected with a beautiful cross from Francisco Conceicao to seal the points and also make history.

The record makes one wonder who held that distinction before Pepe and who are the rest of the oldest goalscorers in UEFA Champions League history?

Here is the updated list of the top 10 oldest Champions League goalscorers in descending order i.e from number 10 all the way down to Pepe in number one.

German striker Ulf Kirsten scored a late equaliser for Bayer Leverkusen in a 1-1 draw against Arsenal in February 2002 in a second group stage match.

The number nine scored that crucial goal at the tender age of 36 years and 127 days old, making him the 10th oldest player to ever score a Champions League goal.

Arsenal started their 2005/06 Champions League campaign with a surprisingly close 2-1 win at home to Swiss side Thun and in fact needed a 92-minute winning goal from Dennis Bergkamp.

Bergkamp was just as old as Ulf Kirsten at 36 years and 127 days old when he scored that goal making him also eligible to share the number 10 spot.

Another Arsenal legend Lee Dixon makes the cut with a goal for Arsenal in a 4-2 home win against Sparta Prague in October 2000.

The legendary right-back scored the third goal of the night for Arsenal at the age of 36 years and 222 days.

Everyone remembers the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul for Liverpool's dramatic comeback from 3-0 down against Milan but Paolo Maldini also made history that night.

Captain Paolo Maldini volleyed in an Andrea Pirlo free kick in the first minute of the game to open the scoring at 36 years and 333 days old, three days shy of his 37th birthday.

French defender Laurent Blanc was 36 years and 338 days old when he scored the opening goal for Manchester United in a 3-2 win away at Olympiacos in October 2002.

Olivier Giroud scored the winning goal for AC Milan in the 2-1 home win against PSG in the 2023 UEFA Champions League group stages.

That goal put him ahead of Laurent Blanc as the oldest Frenchman to score in the competition at 37 years and 38 days old. Considering that Milan are still very much in the UCL and Giroud is still active, the striker has more opportunities to move further up this list.

Legendary Argentine defender Javier Zanetti was 37 years and 71 days old when he scored the opening goal for Inter Milan in a group-stage win against Tottenham in 2010.

The match ended 4-3 in favour of Inter and is one of the most memorable Champions League games of all time, mostly for the heroics of Gareth Bale.

Italian striker Filippo Inzaghi formed a reputation as a lethal goalscorer his entire career even in his latter years, he was still scoring for AC Milan in a big game against Real Madrid.

Pippo scored a brace in a 2-2 draw in the group stage clash in 2010, at the ripe old age of 37 years and 86 days old, making him the oldest goalscorer in the Champions League at the time but three more players have now outdone him.

There is hardly any list of the oldest anything in football that Ryan Giggs does not feature, after all his longevity is one of his biggest selling points.

Giggs scored Manchester United's opening goal of the 2011/12 UCL campaign in style against Benfica at 37 years and 289 days old to become the oldest goalscorer in the competition at the time.

Francesco Totti scored the equaliser for Roma in the 23rd minute of their trip away at Manchester City with a sublime chip over Joe Hart.

The game would end 1-1 but Totti's goal remained historic, surpassing Ryan Giggs to become the outright oldest scorer in Champions League history at 38 years and three days old.

Totti's record stood for over seven years until last night when Pepe obliterated it at 40 years and 256 days old, meaning it would be near-impossible to break.