Revisiting 3 unassailable records broken by Erling Haaland this season
Erling Haaland has spent one year out of his already celebrated career in the English top-flight and comfortably put the doubters to the sword.
He’s slotted into the Manchester City side like the final piece of a jigsaw puzzle, steering them to their third Premier League title in a row, and his first of many, perhaps.
As both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi walk into the twilight of their careers, the likes of Kylian Mbappe and now, Haaland, are taking over the task of making ordinary people believe in magic.
He’s a phenomenon. He belongs to a rare category, if at all there ever was, of people built to walk into the spotlight unflustered and leave behind a legacy like they didn’t break a sweat to earn it. It’s ridiculous to state that a 22-year-old Norwegian has better knowledge of where the net is than many world-beaters on stage. But that is exactly what Haaland does – he’s there before you know it, and he’s always one step ahead of you inside the box.
While credit must go to the entire Man City camp for turning their season around since the most recent international break, Haaland being their key operator in the opposition area has unbolted a brand-new iteration.
Haaland has smashed more goals this season than any other since bursting onto the scene in 2018 for Molde. He’s made over 50 appearances and has crossed a half-century of goals – 52 to be precise – and clattered records aplenty.
Below, we reappraise three previously unassailable records that Haaland has broken this season as Man City move one step closer to a historic treble.
#1 Haaland became the leading scorer in a single PL campaign
With 36 goals under his belt, Haaland has reinvented goalscoring in arguably the most physically demanding league in the world.
Barring Chelsea, he’s butchered opposition defenses at least once this term.
He scored his 51st goal against West Ham on 3rd May in a routine 3-0 win for a side that can do no wrong. The fixture was at a deadlock at half-time before Nathan Ake opened the scoring in the 49th minute.
Haaland then joined the party, with Jack Grealish sparking a counterattack and cushioning the ball into a vacant area. The former evaded both center-halves and dinked the ball over Lukasz Fabianski with utmost nonchalance.
In the process, Haaland eclipsed Andy Cole and Alan Shearer’s record of 34 goals in a single campaign. What’s better? The pair amassed this hallmark in a 42-game league season.
#2 Haaland became the first PL player to score hat-tricks in three consecutive home matches
Common phrase around Manchester goes, “It’s more likely for Haaland to fire a hat-trick at the Etihad than a blank.” The sharpshooter has recorded an astonishing 18 career hat-tricks at the age of 22.
Footballers at the end of their careers are often privileged to handpick their best goals from their time; Haaland will probably spend half a day choosing his best treble. We bore witness to his swashbuckling staging on the biggest occasion – the Manchester derby on the 2nd of October.
In a nine-goal thriller that ended 6-3 in favour of the hosts, both Phil Foden and Haaland staked claim for the match ball.
The Norway international began his afternoon with a well-directed header, and three minutes later was gift-wrapped his second by Kevin de Bruyne, who was given all the time in the world to launch a delicious cross to a ready Haaland.
By the time he would go on to lodge his hat-trick, Manchester United were only chasing shadows. Too good on the day, City worked the ball exquisitely down the left-hand side for Sergio Gomez to drill a low cross. Haaland, of course, did the rest.
It was only the start of October and eight games in, and Haaland had three hat-tricks to his name, emerging as the first PL player ever to record the same in three successive home games.
#3 Haaland became the fastest to 25 goals under Pep Guardiola
Although he gets his forward firing like modern-day football has never witnessed before, Guardiola isn’t an advocate for building his attacks around giant-sized number nines.
The likes of Robert Lewandowski and Sergio Aguero have flourished under his stewardship, but the sides they played for had goal scorers peppered everywhere, in the form of various attacking formations and space-creating mineworkers.
Haaland, though, is a central figure who spends most of his time anticipating the final pass and beating defenders to it. Add his prolific scoring nature, pace, and strength to it, and you get the makings of one of the most ruthless center-forwards in the game.
Also read: Manchester City Have Eyes Set On Treble
He’s scored a handful of goals courtesy of his teammates breaking down the opponents’ passing rhythm. In one such case, Grealish intercepted Leeds United’s skipper Liam Cooper’s gimcrack pass and squared it for Haaland to knock the stuffing out of the home side.
With that strike, he became the fastest player to chalk up 25 goals under Pep Guardiola, casually accomplishing the feat in 20 games. Even the great Lionel Messi needed 28 appearances, which is a freakish record in the first place.
Haaland wasn’t done. He would tuck another goal to put the cherry on top and round off a 3-1 victory.
Haaland is just getting started, which is a terrifying thought for opponents. He will continue to rewrite history, possibly even turn it upside down if he plays under Guardiola for long enough.
-Roy Akarshak
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: Ratchet8865. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.