After scoring against Sparta Prague in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, Erling Haaland reached yet another goalscoring landmark for Manchester City.
Another week, another Erling Haaland goalscoring achievement.
Having recently reached 100 goals for Manchester City, the net-bothering Norwegian has now achieved another landmark in the UEFA Champions League.
With his first of two goals against Czech side Sparta Prague in City’s third game of the league phase, Haaland made it 20 goals in the competition for the Premier League club.
For a change, though, the record for getting to a number has eluded him. Haaland took 23 games to score 20 Champions League goals for City, two more than Ruud van Nistelrooy did in reaching the same number for Manchester United in the competition (21 games).
Haaland reached 20 UCL goals for Pep Guardiola’s side in a faster time than the likes of Harry Kane for Tottenham, Cristiano Ronaldo for Real Madrid, Robert Lewandowski for Bayern Munich and Kylian Mbappé for Paris Saint-Germain, though.
Fastest to 20 Champions League Goals for One Club
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) – 21 Games
Erling Haaland (Manchester City) – 23 Games
Harry Kane (Tottenham) – 24 Games
Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain) – 25 Games
Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus) – 26 Games
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) – 26 Games
Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich) – 28 Games
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) – 30 Games
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain) – 32 Games
Rivaldo (Barcelona) – 33 Games
Sergio Agüero (Manchester City) – 34 Games
Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) – 34 Games
Breaking down Haaland’s Champions League goals for Man City, his 21 goals have come against eight different opponents, with RB Leipzig his most punished victim. He has hit six against the Bundesliga side, with five coming in one game at the Etihad Stadium in March 2023. He has also netted against Young Boys (four), FC Copenhagen (three), Bayern Munich (two), Sevilla (two), Slovan Bratislava (one), Borussia Dortmund (one) and now Sparta Prague (two).
The Champions League is a competition Haaland has always thrived in. He scored eight goals in just six appearances for Salzburg, before managing 15 goals in 13 UCL games for Dortmund.
He could have beaten Van Nistelrooy’s record, having scored 18 Champions League goals in his first 18 appearances in the competition for City, but Haaland was unable to find the net in either leg of last season’s quarter-final defeat to Real Madrid, or in their opening game of this campaign against Inter.
His two goals on Wednesday at the Etihad Stadium have taken him to 21 now, though, and who knows how many he could end up with?
With 44 goals in 42 games overall, Haaland now sits joint 14th in the all-time list of Champions League top scorers at the age of just 24. He has a long way to go to reach Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 140, but you’d still be a brave person to bet against him, particularly with the competition’s expanded format.
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