More Erling Haaland is happy about the Champions League games: Cristiano Ronado’s European record is already being eyed by Man City’s goal machine.
The attacker, who has more chances to increase his stats, is coming into his sixth year in Europe’s top tournament in vicious condition.
A huge fan of the Champions League anthem is Erling Haaland. When he was first breaking through in Europe’s top competition with Red Bull Salzburg, netting goals at Anfield against Liverpool and Genk for a hat-trick, he uploaded a video of himself driving while listening to the famous theme song, written by British musician Tony Britten.
Haaland disclosed that the national anthem was his phone’s alarm clock and that he woke up to it every day while he was at Borussia Dortmund, the scene of his ongoing infatuation with the league. Furthermore, he said he had not altered the ringtone during his Manchester City presentation.
Now that might be necessary. Both the Champions League and its anthem have undergone a revamp. Britten produced a new, polished version of the hymn to commemorate the new format, which was unveiled to the globe in a glamorous commercial starring Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gianluigi Buffon, and Haaland’s teammates Rodri and Ruben Dias.
Like the new format, the new rendition infuriated many traditionalists who oppose change, although the song retains all the qualities of the original while being more polished. There would be no reason for Haaland to not like the song.
The Norwegian, who has already established himself as the competition’s expert and won it at the age of 22, will also benefit from the new structure. With a few more games left, he can close the gap on Cristiano Ronaldo as the all-time leading scorer.
More matches = More objectives
With two games in the first “League Phase” and perhaps two more in the play-offs, the new Champions League structure has come under fire for taxing players more and making the issue of fixture overload worse. There has already been a ripple effect on other competitions, like the Carabao Cup.
However, the new competition is for you if your greatest want is for more matches between the biggest teams in the league. Who would not want to see more highly anticipated matches? In a rematch of the 2023 championship, Haaland and City take against Inter on Wednesday to start their campaign. Compared to their first game of the previous campaign against Red Star Belgrade, it is undoubtedly more intriguing.
Sporting CP, Feyenoord, Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain are among the teams that City will play. They will also play less well-known teams in Europe, such Club Brugge, Sparta Prague, and Slovan Bratislava. This is when Haaland can truly hurt them. During his first two seasons with City, he scored 10 goals in nine group stage games, and he now has two more games to add to his total.
City will probably place in the top eight and advance directly to the round of 16. If they don’t, though, and instead place between ninth and 24th in the league standings, they will face off in a two-leg play-off, which will provide Haaland with even more chances to pad his stats.
There will be more records.
During Salzburg’s 6-2 demolition of Genk in his Champions League debut, Haaland created history by being the first and, to this day, the only player to score a hat-trick in his first-ever competition. He soon outscored Alessandro del Piero and Diego Costa to become just the third player to score in his first five games.
He was the youngest and fastest player in the tournament to score 15 goals shortly after joining Dortmund, and he went on to duplicate the achievement in both categories for every goal bracket up to and including 40 goals. In addition, he is the only player to score more than one goal on his Champions League debut for three separate clubs and the only player to score more than once in four straight games.
But he still has a ton of documents in his possession. In just 39 games, he has scored 41 goals, and he turned 24 in July. At 24 years and 284 days, he is therefore on track to surpass Lionel Messi’s record as the youngest player to reach 50 goals. In addition, he should easily surpass Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of 50 goals after 62 games to become the player with the fastest half-century.
Along with Messi and Luiz Adriano, Haaland is one of just three players to score five goals in a Champions League match. If he had not been substituted in the 63rd minute against RB Leipzig in 2023, he would have undoubtedly became the first player to record a double hat-trick.
He feels tidy.
Haaland led the Champions League in scoring in 2022–2023; however, he appears even more proficient this year after taking the longest summer vacation ever and being able to fully disconnect from football during vacations in southern Europe and his home country of Norway.
Before the Inter match, Pep Guardiola said, “The difference this season is that after niggles and exhaustion in his body, this season he feels better.” “He feels good and clean here [in his brain] thus far.”
Additionally, Rodri made use of Haaland’s insanely impressive form to push for a more accommodating schedule for other players who frequently participate in international competitions, much like himself. The Spaniard remarked, “Maybe Haaland is a good example; he took a long vacation, and you see how he is performing right now.”
Haaland was telling the truth when he claimed, “my body is fully rested, and I feel ready,” during City’s preseason tour. He broke yet another Premier League record on Saturday with nine goals in his first four games. He is almost on pace to start this season with as many goals as Guardiola scored in his eleven seasons as a player.
With Ronaldo in his sights
After scoring in the opening weekend match against Chelsea, Haaland started the season with 90 goals for City from 99 games. Guardiola claimed that Haaland’s stats were comparable to those of Messi and Ronaldo. After 103 games, he currently has 99 goals. If he scores against Inter, he would surpass Ronaldo’s record of 100 goals for Real Madrid after 105 games. And Ronaldo should be worried about more than just that record.
After Messi moved from Paris Saint-Germain to Inter Miami in 2023 with 129 goals in the Champions League—11 fewer than Ronaldo’s record total of 140—the Portuguese likely believed he would always hold the title of highest scorer in the history of the league. Over the course of 19 seasons, Ronaldo played 183 Champions League games—a record—and retired at the age of 37.
Haaland, who turned 24 recently, has only participated in five Champions League seasons. If Haaland continues to score goals at his current pace and stays healthy, he will catch Ronaldo in just 133 games, or by the time he turns 34.
Mbappe can encourage him.
Given that Kylian Mbappe is 17 months older than Haaland and has scored 49 goals in the Champions League, there is a chance the French striker will arrive earlier. However, he has only played 74 games, and his 0.66 goals per game strike rate is significantly lower than Haaland’s 1.05 goals per game.
When it comes to his scoring prowess, Haaland has no real competition in the Premier League, especially since Harry Kane moved to the Bundesliga. Maybe Mbappe, who currently plays for Real Madrid, the football aristocracy in Europe, may inspire Haaland to reach even higher goals.
After all, Ronaldo peaked at the age of 26 during the 2011–12 campaign. At 29, he had his best Champions League season in 2013–14, when he scored a record 17 goals. During his 25th year, Messi’s greatest scoring in both La Liga and the Champions League occurred in 2011–12.
A new age
Therefore, there is a real chance that Haaland has not yet reached his top and that his statistics will continue to improve. For what it is worth, Guardiola said he is content with his striker’s performance right now.
“I do not think Haaland will score two, three, or even two goals every time they play. It is not what I expected! If that does not occur, I know the quality is there, so it will not be an issue,” he stated. “He can change, but if you tell me he will score another 99 goals in the next 100 games, that is great with me. In the next 100 games, they should score 99 goals if they do not wish to get better.”
Haaland is at his best right now, even if he only keeps playing at this level. There will be more Champions League games in the future, which means there will be more chances to get near to Ronaldo.
Nobody can match Ronaldo’s performance in the Champions League, and with the new format, some of his other records—like his joint record of 11 goals in a six-game group stage or his goal in every group stage match—are now inalienable. However, the Champions League is entering a new period that belongs to Haaland. It has a new format and even a new theme song.
