Thomas Muller emulates Cristiano Ronaldo after bringing up 55th Champions League goal for Bayern Munich in Shakhtar Donetsk rout

Bayern Munich cruised to a 5-1 victory over Shakhtar on Tuesday in the Champions League. Muller played a starring role in the win and was on target with his 55th strike in Europe's premier club competition. The German has also now scored in 16 separate Champions League seasons, joining Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs in a select group of players to reach that milestone. The only two players to have managed more are Lionel Messi and Karim Benzema - who have both scored in 18 different campaigns.

Muller's goal was his first in the Champions League this season and indeed his first for Bayern since netting against Freiburg in the Bundesliga all the way back in September. At 35, Muller is no longer quite the force of old but his experience and leadership are still important to Vincent Kompany's side. The victory was the team's first away win in six outings on the road in Europe and is a boost to Bayern in their bid to finish in the top eight and directly qualify for the last 16.

Muller was a happy man after the match. He told reporters: "We're pleased. A match like this always has different phases. The goal we conceded caught us cold, but then we kept going and had a lot of moments through our pressing. They wanted to play out from the back but lost the ball some of the time, too. The way we scored our second goal, we could've scored several more like that."

Muller has played a bit-part role for Bayern this season, making just three starts in the Bundesliga, but will hope to be involved again on Saturday when the Bavarian giants take on Mainz.