Champions League: Erling Haaland with goal record

Manchester. 50 goals in 49 Champions League matches – no one has ever scored that fast before Erling Haaland. The Manchester City star striker scored the opener in the 56th minute of the 2-0 win against SSC Napoli, reaching the 50-goal mark faster than any star in the history of the competition before him. Until now, Ruud van Nistelrooy of the Netherlands had been the fastest: with 50 goals in 62 matches. The 25-year-old Haaland has scored 27 goals for Manchester City, 15 for Borussia Dortmund, and eight for RB Salzburg in his Champions League career so far.

Haaland is in outstanding form early in the season. In seven competitive matches for Manchester City and the Norwegian national team, he has scored twelve goals so far. He scored five in the 11-1 win against Moldova, followed by two in the 3-0 victory against Manchester United.

With his 50 Champions League goals, Haaland now has more than Zlatan Ibrahimović, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Mohamed Salah, and Didier Drogba, and is in the top 10. However, he still has a long way to go to the top: Cristiano Ronaldo has scored a total of 140 goals for Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Juventus. Lionel Messi is in second place with 129 goals for FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. The German record is held by Thomas Müller with 57 Champions League goals for FC Bayern, putting him level with Kylian Mbappé in sixth place on the all-time list.

RND/dpa