Haaland may break Ronaldo’s Champions League season goals record by May

The incredible form of Erling Haaland in this year’s Champions League has brought him within sight of the competition’s single-season scoring record.

The Norwegian plundered five goals against RB Leipzig on Tuesday to equal the record for the most goals scored in a single UCL game. That brings him to ten goals in just six matches in this season’s competition.

If Manchester City were to make it to the final in Istanbul on 10 June, Haaland could have another five games in the competition. If he can keep up his current rate of scoring he stands a chance of reaching the single-season record of 17 goals, currently held by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Haaland is now seven goals away from the record and has, at most, five games in which to score them. However if City make the final and he continues to score at this prodigious rate, Haaland will finish the UCL campaign on an astonishing 18 goals.

Ronaldo is known for his Champions League performances and the Portuguese superstar is responsible for the three highest-scoring individual UCL campaigns. Incredibly, he has finished as the Champions League’s top goalscorer on seven separate occasions.

These are the highest-scoring individual Champions League seasons on record:

Cristiano Ronaldo (2013-14) - 17

Cristiano Ronaldo (2015-16) - 16

Cristiano Ronaldo (2017-18) - 15

Robert Lewandowski (2019-20) - 15

Karim Benzema (2021-22) – 14

Lionel Messi (2011-12) - 14

If Haaland were to break into the top five this season the Norwegian would comfortably be the youngest name on this list of elite scorers. Ronaldo was 29 by the end of his record-breaking 2013-14 season, but Haaland will be just 22 when this year’s competition draws to a close.