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Erling Haaland has been compared to football greats Ruud van Nistelrooy, Thierry Henry and Gabriel Batistuta as the wonderkid closes in on Kylian Mbappe’s Champions League record.
The Norway international was at his brilliant best for Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night as he scored twice and assisted a further goal in a 3-2 victory over Sevilla.
Haaland is still only 20 but is already among the best strikers in Europe with 110 club career goals to his name in 153 games.
talkSPORT host Adrian Durham believes Haaland has some of the best attributes in the game.
“I thought he took it to another level,” Durham said on Thursday’s Drivetime. “His stats alone are enough to convince anybody, but when you watch him play he seems to me to have bits of every great striker that ever existed.
“The first run he made, charging at defenders, I thought ‘that’s Ruud van Nistelrooy; that’s peak Van Nistelrooy’.
“Then I’m watching him do something else and there’s a touch of Thierry Henry about him.
“Then I’m watching him do something else and there’s a bit of (Gabriel) Batistuta.
“I’m thinking of all these top strikers in the past and you get all their best bits, and they are all in Erling Haaland. He’s that good.
“The stats are phenomenal. Club record, all competitions, since January 2020, so just over a year – Haaland has played 42 games and scored 41 goals, eight assists.
“Mbappe has played 44 games and has 30 goals and 15 assists. These are amazing figures these guys are racking up.
“If stats are your thing then these players are ticking those boxes.
“When you watch them play, I think defenders are petrified of Haaland in a way I’ve never seen defenders.
“Remember when Thierry Henry absolutely ruined Liverpool in the 4-2 in the Invincibles season, that’s when Premier League defenders were petrified of Henry; but I don’t think he had that fear instilled in European opponents.
“With Haaland, I think any defender is petrified of him.”
Haaland is also closing in on Kylian Mbappe’s record of 19 Champions League goals before the age of 21.
The 20-year-old already has 18 with at least one more game to play before he turns 21 in July.
Should Borussia Dortmund progress to the quarter-finals of this season’s European cup then there will be ample opportunity to beat Mbappe’s tally.
To put that into context, Lionel Messi had just nine Champions League goals before he was 21, while Cristiano Ronaldo was yet to score in Europe’s premier continental competition.
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