Pep Guardiola claimed that even Lionel Messi was not putting up the numbers Erling Haaland has in the Champions League at his age.
Haaland, who has 40 goals in Europe’s elite competition in total has broken several feats along the way to achieve such an impressive tally in his career already.
As per the Champions League’s official website, the Manchester City hitman became the youngest as well as the quickest player in the competition’s history to score 20 (20 years and 231 days, 14 games), 30 (22 years and 236 days, 25 games) and 40 goals (23 years and 130 days, 35 games) in the tournament.
Pep Guardiola claims Lionel Messi was not putting up the same Champions League numbers as Erling Haaland at the same age
The £51 million (The Times) man seems to have a special relationship with the competition, as has been the case with several former greats of the game, such as Lionel Messi himself.
This season, Haaland has the chance to win the tournament in successive campaigns, with City arguably being the favourites in the current edition of the competition once again.
Pep Guardiola believes Lionel Messi was not as prolific a goalscorer in the Champions League as Erling Haaland at the same age.
“Mentally, he’s always, you know, ‘Score one goal, go [for] another one, second goal, [now score] the third.’ You see his numbers at his age. In the Champions League, it’s amazing. Not even [Lionel] Messi, Cristiano [Ronaldo] had these numbers at his age. But everywhere, the numbers are unbelievable”, he said [via BeanymanSports]
“Scores goals with us, yeah and Salzburg and BVB [Borussia Dortmund]. He scores goals everywhere, so when you score everywhere all the time, you have a special mentality. That helps him have a special mentality as a football player and attributes and skills and we are delighted to have him.”
Erling Haaland could go down as the competition’s greatest-ever player
Considering Pep Guardiola managed Lionel Messi during his early years in the Champions League, the statement he made with regards to Erling Haaland is a huge one.
While Cristiano Ronaldo is widely viewed as the competition’s standout performer in its history, the Norwegian could well surpass him, considering the damage he has already done in Europe.
With Haaland expected to add to his tally of Champions League titles in the future while his goalscoring numbers continue to rise at a rapid rate, he could end up as the competition’s undisputed greatest player.
