Ronaldo v Haaland: The rivalry that will ignite Manchester

FT Desk

• Updated: 11 May 2022 04:51 CDT
• 6 min read

Cristiano Ronaldo is Manchester United’s resident top scorer, but Manchester City have added goal-fiend Erling Haaland to their ranks. Who will come out on top next term?

United have stuttered this season under first Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and then Ralf Rangnick, and currently sit sixth, five places and 28 points behind Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who are favourites to win the league.

And yet Ronaldo has 18 goals in the Premier League - six more than City’s top scorer Raheem Sterling, who has 12.

Remarkably, the Portuguese nearly joined the Cityzens last summer, having a last-minute change of heart. “I really like [Sir Alex Ferguson] a lot and he was the main key for me to be in the position that I am, that I signed for Manchester United,” he said at the time.

City baulked at spending more than £100 million on a 28-year-old Harry Kane and used that budget on under-performing winger Jack Grealish instead, but are now champions-elect without a recognised No.9.

Haaland addresses the Sergio Aguero-shaped gap left in Man City’s squad, and now Manchester has two high-level goal machines ready to do battle next term. But who will come out on top?

Why Ronaldo could remain top dog

Ronaldo is a bona fide goal machine. Haaland certainly appears to be one too, but he is yet to do it in the Premier League. That is not to say he couldn’t, but Ronaldo, even at 37, is in his element in Manchester, his 24 goals in all competitions this season taking him to 142 all time in English football.

Erik ten Hag will have some sorting out to do when he takes the reins this summer. Harry Maguire’s form is a concern and Paul Pogba might be doing everyone a favour when he leaves under freedom of contract. But in Ronaldo, he knows he is getting a proven goalscorer.

It has been suggested that his pressing, or lack thereof, could pose a problem, but Ten Hag is happy to play with a focal point in attack with the busier runners in behind: see Sebastien Haller at Ajax, who scored 11 Champions League goals this season.

Why Haaland could come out on top

Players like Heung-min Son and Kevin De Bruyne help dispel the recent notion of a “Bundesliga tax” – whereby a player arriving in England from Germany should have their goal record taken with a pinch of salt given the supposed disparity in the two leagues’ standards. Haaland will be confident of being another.

The 21-year-old Norwegian has plundered his 28 goals this season at a rate of one every 82 minutes he has played. He scored three goals in three games for Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, and he will leave the club as the fastest – and youngest – player to 50 Bundesliga strikes.

While Ronaldo is the focal point of Man Utd’s team, Haaland may come into a Man City squad full of False 9s and attacking midfielders. But Aguero did just fine as a centre forward in that squad, retiring as City's record scorer with five Premier League titles to his name. Furthermore, Haaland’s build-up play is also underrated – he boasts 23 assists in his two-and-a-half seasons with Dortmund.

What might hold Ronaldo back?

Ronaldo may be one of the most decorated players in the history of football, but Father Time remains the only undefeated champion in sport. Ronaldo will turn 38 midway through next season, and his goal return of one every 134 minutes this season is down on the 104 minutes he needed at Juventus last term, which was already some way short of the 84 minutes between goals in his final season at Real Madrid in 2017/18.

There is also more concern about how he might function in a counter-pressing system. Leading the line is one thing, but Ronaldo is in the lowest percentile for pressures from the front league-wide this season. Haller, by comparison, is in the 66th in the Netherlands.

Ronaldo could, nonetheless, outscore Haaland, not least because City have a deeper squad and the Norwegian might have more opportunities for rest. But City will be overwhelming favourites to retain their title, and for a player with five Champions Leagues and a European Championship with Portugal, will a simple goal-haul count as success?

What might hold Haaland back?

Haaland may not have all the aces up his sleeve, either. It is true that other players have taken time to adjust to the pace and power in the Premier League – see Kai Havertz and Timo Werner at Chelsea as recent examples – and although Haaland has both in abundance, he may not be able to bully opposition defenced in quite the same way.

Even if his physicality was beyond question – Aymeric Laporte this week tweeted that he was relieved to be playing with Haaland rather than against him – there is also a system question at City. Despite his underrated build-up play, he has a radically different style to a Phil Foden or a Gabriel Jesus in attack, and Pep also has a poor track record with centre-forwards.

Aguero and before him Robert Lewandowski at Bayern Munich are shining exceptions, but in 15 years at the top with Barcelona, Bayern and now City, two natural No.9s thriving under him is not the most reassuring return. Havertz and Werner have still outperformed another No.9 at Chelsea, and Haaland will be hoping things don’t go a bit Romelu Lukaku at the Etihad.

Ronaldo or Haaland

The most potent attacker in the history of the game against a player who looks to be his natural heir in that regard, Ronaldo and Haaland both have huge potential upsides next season, but there are reasons not to bet the house on either.

And that is part of why watching them will be so compelling. Ronaldo vs. Haaland is the rivalry to ignite Manchester.