Erling Haaland on path to break Lionel Messi’s best-ever goalscoring season record

The Norwegian striker has been in sensational goalscoring form this season.

Erling Haaland, star striker for Manchester City, is scoring at a rate that could surpass Lionel Messi’s historic 2011–12 season, which is the standard for individual excellence in the modern game.

In 2011–12, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner was at the top of his game, performing at a level we feared might never be seen again. However, Haaland’s stats indicate that his unbelievable goal totals may potentially be surpassed.

The statistics from Messi’s incredible 2011–12 season have been broken down. This is how Messi at his best compares to Haaland’s 2025–2026 thus far.

Lionel Messi’s incredible 2011-12 season record

Lionel Messi scored an incredible hat-trick in a 4-3 friendly victory against Brazil to round off his outstanding individual year. In just 69 games, that was his 82nd goal for both club and country. He also recorded 34 assists, so it’s safe to say Haaland won’t match that latter total.

Messi had scored 24 goals in 22 games for Argentina and Barcelona at this point in the 2011–12 campaign. At the moment, Haaland is four ahead.

73 goals for Barcelona

• 50 – LaLiga
• 14 – Champions League
• 3 – Copa del Rey
• 3 – Spanish Super Cup / Club World Cup / UEFA Super Cup

9 goals for Argentina

• 6 – International friendlies
• 3 – 2014 World Cup qualifiers

Will Erling Haaland be able to break his record?

19 goals for Manchester City

• 14 – Premier League
• 5 – Champions League

9 goals for Norway

• 1 – International friendlies
• 8 – 2026 World Cup qualifiers

Total Goals: 28 Goals Per Game: 1.55

With the current rate of 1.55 goals per game across all competitions, Erling Haaland has the potential to become the first elite player to score 100 goals in a single season.

If he wants to surpass Lionel Messi’s record of 50 league goals from 2011–12, he must slightly increase his average of 1.27 goals per game in the Premier League; as of right now, he is on course to finish with 48.

Haaland is now on course to score 106 goals for club and country in 2025–2026 season if he can continue in his present performance and play as many matches as Messi did in 2011–12.

Those are big ifs, of course.

The No. 9 for Manchester City appears to be fully fit and really sharp right now, but it will be difficult to avoid injuries during such a loaded season.

It’s more likely that the club will be eliminated from some competition at some point and miss a little period of action. Haaland might play in 65 games for City this season if they succeed on all fronts.

Except for the World Cup next summer, he has already participated in three games for Norway and might appear in six more across the three international periods. That adds up to 74 games overall, which might be five more than Messi played in 2011–12.

However, it appears difficult for Haaland to reach Messi’s record of 69 appearances that year, given the possibility of rest, rotation and not to mention possible injuries.

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