Manchester City’s Norwegian striker Erling Haaland celebrates scoring the opening goal during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final, second leg football match between Bayern Munich and Manchester City in Munich, southern Germany on April 19, 2023. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)
Champions League: Haaland vs Ronaldo stat sounds fake!
Erling Haaland isn’t messing around in the Champions League. His record compared to that of Cristiano Ronaldo is hard to believe.
Manchester City’s Norwegian striker Erling Haaland celebrates scoring the opening goal during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final, second leg football match between Bayern Munich and Manchester City in Munich, southern Germany on April 19, 2023. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)
Man City booked their place in this season’s Champions League semifinals last night with a 1-1 draw away to Bayern Munich to complete a 4-1 aggregate win. Unsurprisingly, Erling Haaland was on the score sheet. Let’s compare and contrast his UCL record with that of Cristiano Ronaldo.
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Erling Haaland is absolutely cooking in the Champions League
- Ronaldo was a slow-starter in the UCL
- Haaland vs Ronaldo in the Champions League
- Haaland hunting a half-century
- Man City gunning for a treble
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Ronaldo was a slow-starter in the UCL
It took Cristiano Ronaldo, often nicknamed Mr Champions League, a while to get going in the competition. In fact, he didn’t manage a single goal in his first 2000 minutes of Champions League football.
Haaland vs Ronaldo in the Champions League
As you can see from the stat above, Cristiano Ronaldo failed to score a single goal in his first 2000 minutes of Champions League football. Since then, he’s netted 140 times, making him the competition’s all-time leading scorer. Erling Haaland has essentially given himself a 35-goal head start if he wants to track CR7’s record down.
Haaland hunting a half-century
In 2022-23, Man City’s goal-machine already has 48 goals across all competitions. It’s already an all-time single-season record for a Premier League player, and City still have eight Premier League matches to play. They could play a maximum of 13 more matches this season if they reach the FA Cup and Champions League finals.
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Man City gunning for a treble
Pep Guardiola’s team face Sheffield United in the FA Cup semifinals on Saturday before a potentially pivotal league meeting with current EPL leaders Arsenal next Wednesday. The Citizens will face Real Madrid over two legs in the Champions League semifinals in May. It is well and truly crunch time for Pep and his team.
With goal-machine Erling Haaland in their ranks, anything seems possible.
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