The Champions League’s top scorer is a billiards ace inspired by Ronaldo

Anastasios “Tasos” Douvikas, 27, is looking down on Kane, Mbappé and Haaland after becoming the top scorer in the Champions League league phase, at least for the next three weeks. The Greek striker has six goals in 246 minutes for Como in the competition, almost a third of the team’s goals. This season, only PSG have scored more.

Scoring once every 41 minutes, Douvikas has been more prolific than last year’s Ballon d’Or winner Harry Kane. His hat-trick in Como’s record 9-1 win at Lens was only the third of his career. It also put him level with Alessandro Del Piero, and with Kylian Mbappé this season, as players who scored at least four goals in their first four Champions League games. For Como overall, he now has 30 goals in 71 matches.

Signed from Celta Vigo in February 2025 for €14 million, Douvikas has since doubled his market value to around €30 million, attracting interest from several Premier League clubs. Como moved quickly to tie him down, and at the end of last month he signed a new contract until 2031, with an option for another year. His salary rose from €1.2 million to €3 million a year. “Tasos says he is happy at Como, where he has gradually seen off the competition: first he forced Álvaro Morata to leave Italy, and now the injured Moise Kean is waiting behind him,” wrote La Gazzetta dello Sport.

His rise was far from predictable. He made his professional debut at 18 for his hometown club Asteras Tripolis, was named the Greek league’s best young player and moved to Volos for €600,000. His breakthrough came at Utrecht, where he shared the Eredivisie Golden Boot with Xavi Simons on 19 goals. That earned him a €12 million move to Celta in 2023, but he never settled in Spain and found himself on the bench under Rafa Benítez. He jumped at Como’s offer, and in Italy, Cesc Fàbregas built the team around him.

Off the pitch, Douvikas is a devoted family man. He married his long-time partner Nefeli in June, and the couple recently announced they are expecting a child. His first coach was his father, Giannis, a former left winger and Asteras youth coach. His idol is Ronaldo Nazário, even though Douvikas wasn’t yet born when the Brazilian won the Ballon d’Or in 1997. His other great passion is billiards. He says he could have turned professional, and he lives by the motto: “Work hard and your moment will come.”

Paradoxically, the Champions League’s leading scorer is still a backup for Greece, behind Vangelis Pavlidis and Fotis Ioannidis, and has played just one half across Greece’s four Nations League games. Next week Greece visit the Netherlands, the country that launched his career, and Douvikas could win his 25th cap at the Johan Cruyff Arena if coach Ivan Jovanović gives him the chance.