Erling Haaland vs Kylian Mbappe

 

The age of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is coming to an end, but Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe have firmly established themselves as the next two players to define an era. Given that they represent two of the largest clubs in Europe, the two players appear destined to dominate football for many years to come.

Haaland arrived on the scene a couple of years later than Mbappe, who made a name for himself as a youngster by helping Monaco win the 2016–17 league title and go to the Champions League semi-finals. Since then, he has won the World Cup, four Ligue 1 titles in the last five years with PSG and has been incredibly efficient for the Parisiens.

Despite being 18 months younger, Haaland is regarded as a promising young player. Alf-Inge Haaland's son gained notoriety after scoring three hat-tricks in one game against Honduras' Under-20 team, and he has more than lived up to the early expectations.

Since then, he has risen through the ranks at Molde, Red Bull Salzburg, and Borussia Dortmund. As the star of Pep Guardiola's all-powerful Manchester City, he now appears to be on course to completely shatter all manner of goalscoring records.

When PSG eliminated Haaland's Dortmund from the Champions League in March 2020 and celebrated by emulating the Norwegian's "zen" pose celebration, the roots of a new rivalry were already planted.

When media have questioned the two players about the potentially era-defining rivalry, they haven't been hesitant to talk negatively about one another. “When I saw Mbappe score the hat trick, I got free motivation, so thanks to him,” Haaland said of Mbappe’s hat-trick against Barcelona back in February 2021 – before going on to bag a brace against Sevilla. “He scored some nice goals, and I got a free boost from him. So yeah, it was nice.”

But which of the two superstars has had a more impressive 2022–23 season thus far? Let’s have a look how their overall records compare to one another this season.

Erling Haaland has scored a staggering 22 goals and 3 assists in 15 games, with most coming in the Premier League, which is arguably the best football league in the world. What is even more impressive is the fact it is his first season in the premier league, scoring on his Manchester City debut. Haaland has scored 17 goals in 11 games in the Premier League so far this season and it isn’t even November, he is on target to break major league records. Additionally, Erling has already netted 3 Premier League hattricks against Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, and rivals Manchester United. When it comes to the Champions League Haaland has continued his good form, scoring 5 goals in 4 games. These figures have now cemented him as one of the best players in the world at the moment.

Kylian Mbappe has scored 16 goals and 4 assists in 16 games in France’s Ligue 1 and Champions League. Mbappe has scored 10 goals in Ligue 1 accompanied with 2 assists, an impressive record for the 23 year old, however PSG dominate this league by huge spending through Middle Eastern money, making it almost impossible for other clubs in the league to compete. In the Champions League Kylian has scored 5 goals and assisted 2 in 5 games.

It is no doubt that this season Haaland’s numbers are blowing the roof off the footballing world and making Mbappe’s extraordinary figures look like nothing. We never know what the rest of the season must hold, will Mbappe lead PSG their first European Cup or will Haaland lead Manchester City to their first European title.