Home of football statistics and historyWith Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the latter stages of their illustrious careers, football needs some new superstars to replace them.
Given their respective goalscoring exploits to date, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Braut Haaland are destined to do just that.
Ronaldo and Messi are the only players to rack up more than a century of goals in the Champions League, but Mbappe and Haaland are well on course to emulate them.
A quick look at the sportsbooks featured on newbettingsoffers.co.uk highlights how the pair are expected to dominate UEFA’s top club competition this season.
Haaland is odds-on to be the top goalscorer ahead of Mbappe, with only Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski anywhere near them in the betting.
Both players undoubtedly have their sights set on surpassing Ronaldo’s record of 140 Champions League goals before the end of their careers.
Mbappe has netted 36 goals in 55 appearances in the competition, but may find if difficult to keep pace with Haaland over the next few seasons.
Haaland’s double for Manchester City against FC Copenhagen in midweek moved him to 28 Champions League goals in just 22 appearances.
He is the only player to score multiple times on his Champions League debut for three different clubs having achieved the feat for RB Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund and Man City.
Haaland is also the youngest player to score 25 goals in the competition, taking the record off his Paris Saint-Germain rival who previously seized it from Messi.
The Norwegian also has the record for fewest games needed to score 10, 15 and 20 Champions League goals and is well-placed to set numerous other new benchmarks.
Ronaldo’s remarkable 17 goals in 11 games during the 2013/14 UCL campaign may well be a record Haaland could break this season.
He has already netted five goals in three outings this term and would snatch the record if he continues at the same pace and City reach the semi-finals.
However, becoming the player who scores the most Champions League goals is likely to be the record that Haaland will covet the most.
Even if he decided to leave Man City in the future, the talented striker would be snapped up by one of the big hitters in the Champions League.
Real Madrid have been touted as a potential destination, and it is frightening to imagine what he could achieve with the Spanish giants.
Mbappe has also previously been linked with Los Blancos, and a move there could boost his chances of breaking Ronaldo’s record.
While both players will fancy their chances of surpassing Ronaldo and Messi in the UCL scoring charts, Haaland is unquestionably the player who should achieve the feat.
If he continues to score at the same rate in the competition, he would set a new record in his 111th appearance.
Given that Haaland will probably play at least 10 Champions League games per season, Ronaldo’s record mark will come under serious threat from the Norwegian phenomenon.
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