Big five firing on all cylinders

As the new UEFA Champions League season kicked off an old order was quick to re-establish itself. The likes of Raúl González, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Andriy Shevchenko, Thierry Henry and Filippo Inzaghi may be among the elder statesmen of the competition's striking fraternity, but none are willing to cede ground to a younger generation just yet. Those five, in that order, are the all-time leading scorers in the UEFA Champions League and they were all on the scoresheet on Matchday 1.

1. Raúl González, 57 UEFA Champions League goals
Leading from the front is Raúl who struck his competition-leading 57th goal in Real Madrid CF's 2-1 victory against Werder Bremen. The 30-year-old scored his first UEFA Champions League goal nearly 12 years ago and he is turning back the clock under new coach Bernd Schuster.

2. Ruud van Nistelrooy, 50 UEFA Champions League goals
Van Nistelrooy became only the second player to score 50 goals in the competition when he collected Raúl's deft pass before firing past Tim Weise with 16 minutes to play. Van Nistelrooy has needed time to find his stride following injury, but he is clearly relishing the change of regime at the Santiago Bernabéu. "We have so many attack-minded players and with an attack-minded coach like Schuster it's going to be good for all of us," the 31-year-old said.

3. Andriy Shevchenko, 47 UEFA Champions League goals
In a strange twist of fate Shevchenko scored the final goal of the José Mourinho era at Chelsea FC. The coach and striker may not have seen eye to eye but it was the Ukrainian 30-year-old who popped up to head in Florent Malouda's cross on 63 minutes and salvage a home point against Rosenborg BK. It was Shevchenko's 47th goal in the UEFA Champions League and 60th in all European competitions, leaving him level in second place with Inzaghi and just two short of Gerd Müller's all-time record of 62.

4. Thierry Henry, 43 UEFA Champions League goals
Henry has not had the easiest of times following his €23.8m transfer from Arsenal FC to FC Barcelona and the relief was evident when he finally found the net for his new side against Olympique Lyonnais. Henry made a habit of scoring spectacular goals for Arsenal, but it was with a simple tap in that the 30-year-old got off the mark for Barça. Neither he nor coach Frank Rijkaard will mind that.

5. Filippo Inzaghi, 39 UEFA Champions League goals
At 34, Inzaghi is the elder statesmen of this exclusive club, but the AC Milan man shows no sign of slowing down. Indeed his goal in the 2-1 win against SL Benfica was arguably the best of the bunch, crashing in a volley after being picked out by Andrea Pirlo. After scoring both Milan goals in the UEFA Champions League final against Liverpool FC last May, two more on his recall for Italy in June and another in the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla FC, Inzaghi is proving it is not only Milan defenders who can maintain peak performance well into their 30s.