Haaland destroys Ronaldo and Messi’s Champions League record

7 Sept 2022 18:58 BST
3 min read

Erling Haaland, Man City, 2022-23 — © ProShots

Erling Haaland has continued his dominating scoring streak by smashing a Champions League record that even Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi failed to match.

Haaland joined City for £51 million in the summer, a bargain fee before a ball was even kicked, and his explosive start has seen the 22-year-old scoring an unprecedented level.

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The Norwegian netted twice against Sevilla to take his total for Manchester City to 12 goals in seven games in all competitions.

The brace marked Haaland’s 25th Champions League goal of his career in just his 20th game, making him the quickest player to reach that feat as well as the youngest.

Harland is set to face off against former club Dortmund in City’s Champions League group and he will undoubtedly be looking to show his old side what they’re missing.

How does Haaland’s record compare to other Champions League legends?

While Ronaldo is currently the top scorer in Champions League history with 120 goals, incredibly, he had not netted a single time by the time he reached 20 games.

The Manchester United legend took 65 games to reach the 25 goal mark, before going on a prolific run to break the all-time record with Real Madrid.

Messi, meanwhile, netted eight times in his first 20 Champions League games for Barcelona and it took him 42 games to score 25 times.

Best goals per game ratio in the Champions League (minimum 24 goals scored):

🇳🇴 Erling Haaland: 1.25
🇵🇱 Robert Lewandowski: 0.81
🇦🇷 Leo Messi: 0.8
🇵🇹 Cristiano Ronaldo: 0.77
🇳🇱 RVN: 0.77

Goal machine 🤖 pic.twitter.com/48vv2aYzZq

— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) September 7, 2022

Karim Benzema was the player with the closest record to Haaland, with the Real Madrid star scoring 12 in his first 20 games, with Robert Lewandowski just behind having netted 11.

Haaland looks set to compete with Kylian Mbappe for many years to come, with the Paris Saint-Germain forward scoring twice against Juventus to become the quickest player to reach 35 Champions League goals.

Mbappe was 56 days older than Haaland, at 22 years and 80 days, when he reached 25 goals, with Messi the next youngest to reach the mark at 22 years and 286 days.