Despite Lewandowski's  impressive efforts, Manchester City's Erling Haaland is on a faster pace than anyone to reach the milestone, boosting his total to 46 goals at the age of 24.
Still, Haaland's brace wasn't enough for Manchester City in a 3-3 draw with Feyenoord on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) that extended the English Premier League champions' winless streak to six matches.
Lewandowski's early penalty kick-started Barcelona to a 3-0 win over previously unbeaten Brest to move into second place in the new single-league format. The Poland striker added goal No.101 in second-half stoppage time.
Robert Lewandowski becomes the third player in history to reach 100 Champions League goals �— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) #UCL pic.twitter.com/cXenLyGHDNNovember 26, 2024
Ronaldo leads the all-time scoring list with 140 goals and Messi is next with 129. But neither Ronaldo nor Messi play in the Champions League anymore following moves to Saudi Arabia and the US, respectively.
The 36-year-old Lewandowski required 125 matches to reach the century mark, two more than Messi (123) and 12 fewer than Ronaldo (137).
Barcelona also got a second-half goal from Dani Olmo.
The top eight finishers in the standings advance directly to the round of 16 in March. Teams ranked ninth to 24th go into a knockout playoffs round in February, while the bottom 12 teams are eliminated.
In Manchester, Haaland converted a first-half penalty to eclipse Messi as the youngest player to reach 45 goals, then scored City's third after the break to raise his total to 46 goals in 44 games.
Manchester City's Erling Haaland was on target from the penalty spot against Feyenoord. (AP PHOTO)
Ilkay Gundogan had scored City's second goal in the 50th minute.
But then Feyenoord struck back with goals from Anis Hadj Moussa, Santiago Gimenez and David Hancko.
Inter Milan beat Leipzig 1-0 with an own goal to move atop the standings with 13 points, one more than Barcelona and Liverpool, who face Real Madrid on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT). The Serie A champions are the only club not to have conceded a goal.
Bayern Munich beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 - the same score from the 2020 final between the two teams.
PSG ended the match with 10 men and remained in the elimination zone. The French powerhouses have struggled in Europe after Kylian Mbappe's move to Real Madrid.
Kim Min-jae's first-half header was enough for Bayern, especially after Ousmane Dembele was sent off in the 56th minute with his second yellow.
Atalanta moved within two points of the lead with a 6-1 win at Young Boys. Charles De Ketelaere scored two and assisted on three other goals for Atalanta.
Arsenal kept red-hot striker Viktor Gyokeres quiet in a 5-1 win over Sporting Lisbon; and Germany star Florian Wirtz scored two goals and was involved in two more as Bayer Leverkusen boosted their chances of finishing in the top eight with a 5-0 rout of Salzburg.
AC Milan followed up their win at Real Madrid with a 3-2 victory at last-placed Slovan Bratislava.
Christian Pulisic put the seven-time champions ahead midway through the first half by finishing off a counterattack.
Then Rafael Leao restored the Rossoneri's advantage after Tigran Barseghyan had equalised for Bratislava, and Tammy Abraham quickly added another.
Nino Marcelli scored with a long-range strike in the 88th minute for Bratislava, who ended with 10 men.
Bratislava have lost all five of their matches this campaign.
Argentina World Cup winner Julian Alvarez scored twice as Atletico Madrid routed Sparta Prague 6-0.
Alvarez scored with a free kick 15 minutes in and Marcos Llorente added a long-range strike before the break.Â
Alvarez finished off a counterattack early in the second half after being set up by substitute Antoine Griezmann, who then marked his 100th Champions League game by getting on the scoresheet himself.
Angel Correa added a late brace for Atletico, who earned their biggest away win in Europe.
Atletico beat Paris Saint-Germain in the previous round and extended their winning streak across all competitions to six matches.
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