Manchester City forward Erling Haaland continued his impressive goal-scoring form on Thursday night, scoring in his team’s 2-0 Champions League victory over Napoli.
Haaland scored the first goal of the match when he cleverly headed home Phil Foden’s perfectly-placed flick in the 56th minute. The 25-year-old Norwegian in the process became the quickest player in Champions League history to hit 50 goals in what was his 49th appearance in Europe’s elite competition.
He smashed the record held by former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who reached 50 goals in 62 games.
With Haaland not showing any signs of slowing down, Pep Guardiola believes his talented striker might one day be the best player in Europe.
Erling Haaland scores his Man City’s first goal past Vanja Milinkovic-Savic of Napoli. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
“The number speaks for itself,” Guardiola said. “He’s alongside in terms of goals with Van Nistelrooy, [Robert] Lewandowski, but especially with the two monsters, Cristiano [Ronaldo] and [Lionel] Messi over 15, 20 years.
“Erling is there. In terms of goals, it’s unbelievable.”
Ronaldo is the all-time Champions League top scorer with 140 goals. Asked if Haaland — given his numbers at such a young age — could one day top that mark, Guardiola did not hesitate.
“If [he keeps up] that rhythm? Yeah,” the Spaniard said. “He can play I don’t know how many years — 10, 12 years, I would say — if he maintains this progression, absolutely.”
Guardiola was equally effusive about Foden, who scored in City’s 3-0 thrashing of Manchester United on Sunday in his first start of the season and was excellent again on Thursday.
Foden was named PFA Player of the Season for the 2023-24 campaign but his form vanished last term and the goals dried up.
“You cannot imagine how we missed Phil,” Guardiola said. “The last two games have been the Phil we know.
“He played close to Erling in the year we won our fourth [consecutive league title in 2024]. Phil was the best player in the Premier League.”
“It’s the sense of danger close to the box and he could score one or two goals again. So yeah, we are so happy, because I know if he’s happy and his life is fine and the rest, his natural, incredible talent comes along.”
Guardiola will be relying on the form of his players when they face title rivals Arsenal in the Premier League this weekend.
