UEFA Champions League Top Goalkeepers | When we think about soccer strategy and sports betting decisions, we spend a lot of time talking about team formations, strikers, midfield approaches, and backline alignments.
However, the player who waits behind his 10 teammates, guarding the net, can have a crucial impact as well.
For example, when the United States made it out of group play in the 2014 World Cup but drew Belgium in the first round, it seemed like the Red Devils would run the Yanks right out of the bracket.
Belgium did eventually win, but American goalkeeper Tim Howard set a FIFA World Cup record that still stands, saving 16 shots.
The Wikipedia page for U.S. Secretary of Defense was temporarily “edited” to put Howard on the American Cabinet, and the hashtag #ThingsTimHowardCouldSave became a trend on what was then called Twitter during the second half of that match.
Memes put his face on Mount Rushmore, an American monument featuring engraved four heads of former American Presidents, as well as dollar coins, and Howard lives in American soccer lore.
The same pressure rests on the goalkeepers that square off in the UEFA Champions League, so let’s look at some of the top all-time performances.
Top Goalkeepers in the UEFA Champions League
Which goalkeepers have appeared in the most Champions League matches?
Iker Casillas, who is also the youngest goalkeeper ever to appear in a Champions League final at the age of 19 years, four days, took the pitch 177 times in UEFA Champions League play. For 150 of those matches, he dressed for Real Madrid; the other 27 came with Porto.
He has three UEFA Champions League titles, also more than any other goalkeeper. He is one of six goalies that have at least 100 Champions League appearances. Here is the list:
Player Matches Goals Conceded Clean Sheets
- Iker Casillas 177 202 57
- Manuel Neuer 145 132 60
- Gianluigi Buffon 124 118 52
- Petr Cech 111 103 47
- Victor Valdes 106 89 45
- Oliver Kahn 103 102 33
Despite the fact that Casillas appeared in 32 more Champions League matches than Manuel Neuer, Neuer has three more clean sheets than Casillas. Neuer made his appearances with Schalke and Bayern Munich and set the record against Arsenal in the second leg of the 2023-24 quarterfinals.
Edwin van der Sar, appearing for Ajax, Juventus and Manchester United, posted 50 clean sheets in 98 Champions League matches, giving him the top clean sheet-to-match ratio. He’s also the only netminder with at least 70 Champions League appearances to have a clean sheet ratio above 50%. Here are the top ten goalkeepers in terms of Champions League clean sheets:
^Player Clean Sheets
- Manuel Neuer (Schalke, Bayern Munich) 60
- Iker Casillas (Real Madrid, Porto) 57
- Gianluigi Buffon (Parma, Juventus, PSG) 52
- Edwin van der Sar (Ajax, Juventus, Man United) 50
- Petr Cech (Sparta Prague, Chelsea, Arsenal) 47
- Victor Valdes (Barcelona) 45
- Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid) 36
- Dida (AC Milan) 35
- Oliver Kahn (Bayern Munich) 33
- Marc Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona) 32
What about clean sheets in a row? Keeping the ball out of the net for consecutive matches has a lot to do with the defense and the approach in front of the goalkeeper, but you have to make the saves as well.
Jens Lehmann put up eight straight clean sheets for Arsenal between March 2005 and April 2006. Oddly, his failure in his ninth match only made it 18 minutes as he became the first player ever to be sent off in a Champions League final – and, as of this writing, the only goalie to have that happen) in a 2-1 loss to Barcelona.
^The record for Champions League/European Cup titles for a goalkeeper is three. Here are the netminders who have that many titles:
- Keylor Navas (Real Madrid 2016, 2017, 2018)
- Juan Alonso (Real Madrid 1956, 1957, 1958)
- Iker Casillas (Real Madrid 2000, 2002, 2014)
- Ray Clemence (Liverpool 1977, 1978, 1981)
- Sepp Maier (Bayern Munich 1974, 1975, 1976)
- Heinz Stuy (Ajax 1971, 1972, 1973)
- Victor Valdes (Barcelona 2006, 2009, 2011)
Which goalkeeper has scored the most goals in Champions League play? As you might guess, the number of netminders who have scored goals is small – just four. Hans-Joerg Butt has three of the six goals that were slotted by goalkeepers – all penalties over the years for Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich.
Interestingly, all of those goals came against Juventus. Vincent Enyeama converted a penalty for Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2010. Sinan Bolat (Standard Liege) and Ivan Provedel (Lazio) scored on headers – both in the 95th minute of their match, and both to make the score 1-1 in matches that would end as draws.
^🔝 Iker Casillas won 19 titles in 16 seasons with Real Madrid (725 matches) 🧤#UCL pic.twitter.com/XjsPsY718D
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 4, 2021
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