Haaland breaks Mbappe’s record, surpasses Messi and Ronaldo

After Man City’s 7-0 victory over Leipzig yesterday, Erling Haaland surpassed Kylian Mbappe as the youngest player to reach 30 goals in the Champions League.

Haaland scored five goals in the second leg of the round of 16 against Leipzig. He became the youngest player to reach 30 goals in the Champions League at 22 years and 236 days old, achieving the feat with a first-half hat-trick. The previous record holder was Kylian Mbappe, who achieved the milestone at 22 years and 352 days old.

Both Haaland and Mbappe have surpassed Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, with Messi reaching 30 Champions League goals at the age of 23 and three months, while Ronaldo reached it at 26 years and seven months.

Haaland also became the fastest player to score 30 Champions League goals in terms of games played, achieving it in 25 games, breaking the previous record of 30 games held by Ruud Van Nistelrooy, former striker of Man Utd and Real.

Haaland also tied the record for the most goals in a single Champions League game. Messi previously held the record with five goals in the second leg of the round of 16 in the 2011-2012 season, where Barcelona defeated Leverkusen 7-1. In October 2014, Luiz Adriano became the second player to score five goals in a Champions League game, during Shakhtar Donetsk’s 7-0 win over Bate Borisov in the group stage.

However, Haaland’s five goals were more impressive compared to his predecessors. The Man City striker only needed 57 minutes to score his five goals, while Messi and Adriano needed 84 and 82 minutes respectively.

Haaland also sets a record for the most goals scored in a season for Man City. The 22-year-old striker has 39 goals in the 2022-2023 season, surpassing Tommy Johnson’s old record of 38 goals in the 1928-1929 season.

When he scored the third goal for Man City at the end of the first half, Haaland even reached his fifth hat-trick for the team across all competitions this season – more than any other player in the top five European leagues. The Norwegian forward is also the first player in the Premier League to score five hat-tricks in a single season on all fronts since Harry Kane in the 2016-2017 season.

Haaland’s stellar performance has helped Man City break their own record for the biggest win in the Champions League. In March 2019, Pep Guardiola’s team also won 7-0 against another German representative – Schalke, in the second leg of the round of 16 at Etihad Stadium.

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Haaland has scored 29 goals in 27 matches for Salzburg and 86 goals in 89 matches for Dortmund. In the summer of 2022, he joined Man City for $66 million. Currently, Haaland is leading the race for the Champions League Golden Boot with 10 goals in the 2022-2023 season.

He is two goals ahead of Mohamed Salah and three goals ahead of Mbappe. Mbappe no longer has the chance to improve his record as PSG has been eliminated. Salah may also follow Mbappe as Liverpool lost 2-5 to Real Madrid in the first leg of the round of 16.

Man City advanced to the quarter-finals with an 8-1 overall victory over Leipzig. With a maximum of five Champions League matches left this season, Haaland could score more goals and continue to break records.