Haaland at 22 is better than Messi and Ronaldo COMBINED

Robin Bairner

• 3 Oct 2022 04:14 CDT
• 3 min read

Erling Haaland’s statistics since moving to Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund in the summer have been impossible to miss.

The Norway international has been the hottest player in world football, having scored 17 goals in just 11 appearances for Man City.

Remarkably, Haaland has hat-tricks in three successive home games, having notched trebles against Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and now Manchester United.

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It has been pointed out that Haaland is averaging 1.75 goals per game for Pep Guardiola’s team, which is a higher average than the whole of the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations (1.5).

Meanwhile, he is well on course to break Lionel Messi’s record for goals in a single season – a mark that many thought would be unbreakable when the Argentine rattled home 73 strikes for Barcelona during the 2011/12 campaign.

What is perhaps most remarkable about Haaland, though, is the sheer consistency with which he has found the net since making his professional debut in Norway’s fourth tier with Bryne in 2015.

Indeed, his scoring record is underlined by one incredible statistic in particular.

Haaland outscoring Messi and Ronaldo combined

Haaland was 22 years, two months and 11 days old when he scored his hat-trick against Man Utd. These goals took him to 172 goals in his career in all competitions.

At the same age, Messi had scored 91 goals while Cristiano Ronaldo had 74 to his credit. Combined, the two best players in the world had 165 strikes – that is still fewer than Haaland.

It is worth pointing out there are a couple of caveats in this statistic. Firstly, the Norway international has typically been playing at a lower level than Messi and Ronaldo. His goals include a handful scored in Norway, while even those he netted for Dortmund will be considered ‘only’ Bundesliga goals by some critics. The sheer volume of strikes, though, means these cannot be discounted.

And on the other side of the argument, it’s worth remembering that Ronaldo started his career as a winger. In his early days at Manchester United, he was criticised over a lack of end product, a player more interested in stepovers and flicks than goals and assists. He took time to develop into the ruthless No.9 he is today.

Similarly, Messi was more of an attacking midfielder than a pure No.9, so there is an argument that the numbers are not truly comparable.

Regardless of the parameters, what Haaland has achieved in his career to date has been unprecedented and his numbers – so far – stand above those even of Messi and Ronaldo.