Robert Lewandowski bagged a brace against Benfica to move onto 51 goals in his Champions League career, becoming the third-fastest player to break the 50-goal mark. - © © gettyimages / Adam Pretty
Robert Lewandowski bagged a brace against Benfica to move onto 51 goals in his Champions League career, becoming the third-fastest player to break the 50-goal mark. - © © gettyimages / Adam Pretty

Robert Lewandowski becomes third-fastest player after Lionel Messi and Ruud van Nistelrooy to reach 50 UEFA Champions League goals

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Robert Lewandowski became the third-fastest player after Lionel Messi and Ruud van Nistelrooy to notch 50 goals in the UEFA Champions League, as he netted in Bayern Munich's 5-1 win against Benfica on Tuesday night.

It took the 30-year-old just 77 Champions League outings to reach the milestone figure, when he found the back of the net in the 36th minute at the Allianz Arena. The prolific Pole even went on to bag a brace, moving onto 51 career goals for good measure.

Bayern's win means they have guaranteed themselves a place in the last-16 of Europe's premier club competition.

The Poland captain is only the seventh player to have reached 50 goals in the Champions League, after Ronaldo (121), Messi (105), Raul (71), Karim Benzema (59), Ruud van Nistelrooy (56) and Thierry Henry (50).

Watch: What makes Robert Lewandowski so special?

Lewandowski will now be looking to continue his free-scoring run as Bayern travel to Werder Bremen this weekend. He has racked up 14 goals and three assists in his last 11 Bundesliga meetings with the Green-Whites.

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