Haaland sets new Champions League scoring benchmark but still far behind Ronaldo

Erling Haaland. (Reuters)

MANCHESTER, England: Another goal, another record for Erling Haaland.
The Manchester City striker became the fastest player to score 50 goals in the Champions League in a 2-0 win over Napoli on Thursday — reaching the landmark in his 49th game in European club soccer’s top competition.
Haaland surpassed the previous record by former Manchester United and Real Madrid forward Ruud van Nistelrooy, who took 62 games to reach that total.
“He seems to break every record going. At his age, it’s unheard of what he’s doing,” City teammate Phil Foden said.
At the age of 25, Haaland looks capable of chasing down Cristiano Ronaldo’s all-time Champions League record of 141 goals.
“The numbers speak for itself,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “If he plays 10, 12 years... if he maintains this progression, absolutely .”
Haaland already took Van Nistelrooy’s Champions League record as the fastest player to score 30 goals, back in 2023. That same year he became the fastest player to score 50 in the Premier League.
He has 130 goals in 151 appearances since joining City from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.
“How lucky and fortunate we are to have to him,” added Guardiola, who said Haaland’s record puts him among the game’s greats like Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski.
The Norway international’s latest strike came from a looping header early in the second half at the Etihad Stadium.
He has scored 12 goals in seven appearances for club and country this season — including five in Norway’s 11-1 win over Moldova last week. He also struck twice in City’s 3-0 victory over United on Sunday.
Haaland has now surpassed some of European soccer’s greats on the Champions League and European Cup all time scorers list. He moved ahead of Madrid icon Alfredo di Stefano and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
He is level with Filippo Inzaghi and one behind Thierry Henry, who is 11th on UEFA’s list.
Messi is still the youngest player to score 50 goals — reaching that figure at the age of 24 years, 284 days.
Kylian Mbappe reached 50 goals in 79 appearances and the Madrid forward is currently on 57 in the competition.
The next target in Haaland’s sights is Messi’s record of 60 Champions League goals in 80 games. Messi also holds the record for the fewest games  to reach 70 goals.
Lewandowski’s 80 Champions League goals in 100 games is another record.
While Ronaldo leads the scoring list, Messi is second with 129 goals and Lewandowski third on 105.