Erling Haaland vs Cristiano Ronaldo: Stats after 25 Champions League appearances
Could the Norwegian be the one to break the Portuguese's incredible UCL goalscoring record?
In their initial 25 Champions League games, Erling Haaland has registered more goals (33) than any other player. Cristiano Ronaldo, the tournament's all-time leading scorer with 140 goals, failed to score in his first 25 games.
Erling Haaland's record-breaking season for goals scored by a Premier League player as Manchester City crushed Bayern Munich in the Champions League earned him the nicknames "monster" and "beast."
In his debut season playing English football, the 22-year-old Norwegian striker scored City's third goal in their 3-0 quarterfinal first-leg victory to attain another milestone.
In just 39 games, he has scored 45 goals for City this campaign, a Premier League individual record across all competitions.
He had faced German champions Bayern frequently while at Borussia Dortmund, but he had never defeated them. This was his fifth goal in seven matches against them.
No player has ever recorded 45 goals across all tournaments since the Premier League was established in 1992–1993. That is, until today.
At Manchester United in 2002–03, Ruud van Nistelrooy scored 44 goals, and Mohamed Salah accomplished the same thing at Liverpool in 2017–18.
Egyptian attacker Salah and Dutch forward Van Nistelrooy needed 52 games to get their 44 goals. Even though they played 13 fewer games, Haaland beat their record.
Salah achieved it during his inaugural year at Liverpool, although he had previously played in England for Chelsea. Van Nistelrooy managed it in his second season with United.
Haaland was born in Leeds, but he went to Norway when he was three years old, and up until this season, he had never played in England.
He has registered more goals than any other player, and 28 of those goals have been with his left foot, which is his favourite foot. Van Nistelrooy scored 33 goals with his right foot, whereas Salah scored 36 with his left.
Haaland has scored seven goals with his head and ten with his right foot. With four goals scored with the left foot and seven headers for Van Nistelrooy, Salah scored six and two goals, accordingly.
Salah scored five goals compared to zero for Van Nistelrooy and one for Haaland who both scored from outside the penalty area.
Penalties come in a wide variety. Salah only has one goal that season, whereas Haaland had six, and Van Nistelrooy scored a staggering 12.
Clive Allen of Tottenham scored 49 goals across all categories in the 1986–87 period, the last time an English top-flight player did so.
Erling Haaland vs Cristiano Ronaldo: Goals and assists in first 25 Champions League games
Cristiano Ronaldo
Matches: 25
Assists: 0
Goals: 0
Erling Haaland
Matches: 25
Assists: 5
Goals: 33