The Champions League's top assisters since 2017

The era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's dominance of the Champions League is on the wane. The two all-time greats have registered more goals and more assists than anyone else in the history of the competition.

But the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Karim Benzema have outscored the two veterans in recent seasons and they're also being out-assisted in recent seasons too. Messi and Ronaldo don't feature in the top 10 assisters over the past five years. 

But who does? We've taken a look at the 10 players to have notched the most assists in the competition since the start of the 2017-18 season. Where players are tied on assists, we've listed them in order of minutes-per-assist.

10. James Milner

The 36-year-old veteran is a surprise name, perhaps, ahead of more glamorous Liverpool names like Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah. Milner has registered 13 Champions League assists in the last five seasons.

Nine of those assists during the 2017-18 Champions League campaign, in which the Reds finished as runners-up, including three in a 7-0 group stage mauling of Spartak Moscow.

9. Joshua Kimmich

The Germany international failed to register a goal or an assist last season, but he set up 13 goals in the four seasons prior.

That includes four Champions League assists during Bayern Munich's treble-winning 2019-20 campaign. That includes one in the 8-2 thrashing of Barcelona in the quarter-final, two in the 3-0 victory over Lyon in the semi and the assist for Kingsley Coman's match-winner in the final against Lyon.

8. Leroy Sane

Six Champions League assists for Man City and seven for Bayern Munich since 2017-18.

Last season the winger notched a superb return of six goals and six assists in 10 appearances in Europe for Bayern, which included a run of assisting in four successive games against Barcelona, Dynamo Kyiv and Benfica (twice)

7. Thomas Muller

It's no surprise to see assist king Muller feature here. The 32-year-old Bayern Munich forward has notched 18, 18 and 21 assists in the last three Bundesliga campaigns - that's more assists than any player in Europe's top five leagues over the same period.

He also regularly plays killer passes on the European stage, too, with 13 assists in the Champions League since 2017-18.

6. Roberto Firmino

Another Liverpool man that gets in ahead of Salah and Mane and one that's proven vital in the wide attackers notching up so many goals in recent years.

Not only has Firmino scored 20 goals in the Champions League over the last five years, but he's provided a further 13 assists. Eight of those came during the run to the final in 2017-18 final, including wins over Porta Sevilla, Man City and Roma.

5. Raheem Sterling

The England international is gunning to lift the Champions League for the first time at Chelsea, but he's often performed in Europe for Man City in recent years. He's registered 14 assists in Europe's most prestigious cup competition since 2017-18.

4. Neymar

Since joining PSG in that astonishing €222million move from Barcelona back in 2017, Neymar has registered 14 assists in the Champions League.

He's been unable to quite deliver the trophy in those five years, but his individual record is especially impressive when you consider he's made fewer appearances in the competition over that period than any other player in this top 10, having missed a number of big European matches through injury.

3. Angel Di Maria

PSG's all-time top assister with 119 in total in all competitions, 17 of those have come in the Champions League in the last five seasons.

That includes seven assists from nine appearances during the run to the final in 2020. The Argentina international memorably set up two and scored the other in the 3-0 semi-final victory over Lyon. 

2. Kevin De Bruyne

The Belgian currently sits eighth in the list of the Premier League's all-time assisters. Surely come the end of this season he'll have hit a century, surpassing the likes of David Silva, Dennis Bergkamp and Steven Gerrard in the process.

But it's not just in England where he uses that wand of a right foot to set his team-mates up. De Bruyne has notched 17 assists in the Champions League since 2017-18 and now with Erling Haaland there on the end of his crosses that number will only increase. 

1. Kylian Mbappe

Not only has Mbappe scored 27 goals (only two of which were penalties) in the Champions League for free-scoring PSG - which places him sixth in the list of top scorers over the past five seasons - but he's also way out in front in terms of assists with 23.

The French World Cup winner is still only 23 and has plenty of time on his side. He'll have ambitions of one day catching Messi and Ronaldo in the all-time scoring charts and may well also catch the two icons on the assists charts too.