(Spanish CNN) — He’s a robot, they say. They call him “the android”. He is the new great idol of football after the Messi-CR7 era. He is the record-breaking player. Erling Haaland came to Manchester City from Pep Guardiola to improve his scoring power and not only exceeded the expectations of many, but broke unthinkable marks in club football.

52 goals in the season

The 22-year-old Norwegian, 1.95m tall and son of Leeds and Manchester City defender Alf-Inge Håland, joined the England squad in 2022 from Borussia Dortmund. This season he has scored 36 goals in the Premier League, 12 in the Champions League, 3 in the FA Cup and one in the EFL Cup, making a total of 52 goals in 52 games played.

He has yet to play in the Champions League final and is champion in his first season in England in the Premier League and the FA Cup What is your ceiling?

Haaland’s record in the Champions League

Halland has scored 35 goals in just 35 Champions League games. He has only played four seasons and already ranks 19th on the all-time Champions League goalscoring list, as recorded by UEFA. He beats great figures like Kaká, Antoine Griezmann, Wayne Rooney and Samuel Eto’o.

He has scored eight goals (in six games played in the tournament) for FC Red Bull Salzburg, 15 goals for Borussia Dortmund (13 games) and has 12 goals in nine games for City.

In the current season, with 12 scores, he is the top scorer, and will play in the final. The next is Mohamed Salah, with 8 goals.

It took just 25 games to reach 30 Champions League goals, a major feat considering other top scorers didn’t come close: Lionel Messi needed 48 games to reach this figure and Cristiano Ronaldo had to play 74 games. Only Ruud Van Nistelrooy comes close, who has 30 touchdowns in 42 games.

History in the Premier

In the local league, Haaland destroyed the goalscoring record in his debut season. He scored 36 goals in 35 games. Crazy when you know that the previous record, 34 goals per season, was held by Andy Cole (1993/94 season) and Alan Shearer (1994/94), when the league seasons lasted 42 games. The current version of the Premier is 38 games and Manchester City won the league before the tournament ended.

The new world idol: the comparison with Messi and Cristiano

Haaland has 208 goals in his career. The comparison with Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is interesting: at Haaland’s current age (22 years and 11 months) Messi has scored 114 goals and CR7 only 68, according to the newspaper. ace.

In the Champions League (35 for Haaland, compared to 20 for Messi and 7 for Cristiano at that age), he seems to be aiming to break more records. It remains to be seen whether, in his maturity, he will have the same excellence as the Argentinian and the Portuguese, who after their 30s have continued to show unparalleled football.

With the Norway team, the same scenario: Haaland has 21 goals, and at that time Messi had 9 with Argentina and Cristiano 11 with Portugal.

A contemporary dominating football is Kylian Mbappé, now 24 years old. But the comparison also turns in favor of the Norwegian: at 22, Mbappé has scored 131 goals.

for the triple

Haaland and Manchester City have the chance to win a treble this season: they won the FA Cup against backyard rivals Manchester United; they once again destroyed the Premier League, leaving Arsenal behind and entering the Champions League final against Inter Milan as favourites.

The Norwegian arrived at Manchester City from Guardiola, a team previously characterized by more ball control than massive goals, and changed the pattern: with more direct play. Already accustomed to winning the Premiership (five titles in six years), City have one outstanding task: the Champions League. In 2021 they lost the final against Chelsea and in 2022 they were knocked out by Real Madrid in the semi-finals. They have already taken their revenge against the Spanish team.

Now City complete the task by achieving a historic hat-trick. And with Haaland breaking all records, it seems possible.

With information from Andrew McNicol