Sports

Haaland sets new Champions League record ahead of Messi, Ronaldo

Published

4 years ago

March 10, 2021

The Norwegian scored his second double against Sevilla in this last-16 tie to put his side on course for the quarter-finals
Erling Haaland set another Champions League record with his second strike of the evening against Sevilla on Tuesday – but the phenomenon was made to work harder than usual for the goal..

The Norwegian beat Bono from the penalty spot to put Dortmund 2-0 up, in the process taking his own tally to 20 in the competition. It took Haaland just 14 games to reach the mark, meaning he made it quicker than any other player in history.

Dortmund were pegged back on the night as the match ended 2-2, however they won the tie 5-3 on aggregate and have reached the Champions League quarter-finals.

Another night of records
Having scored twice in the last-16 first leg in Seville as Dortmund ran out 3-2 winners, Haaland was back among the goals on Tuesday.

He opened the scoring 35 minutes into the first half, extending his run in front of goal to six consecutive Champions League games. At 20 years and 231 days of age, he is the youngest player to achieve such a feat in Europe’s premier club tournament.

Better was to come for the Norway international, however. In the second half he extended Dortmund’s aggregate lead to 5-2 with a penalty and set a new benchmark with his 20th Champions League goal.

Tottenham’s Harry Kane was the previous owner of the record, reaching the figure in a comparatively sluggish 24 games.

He is also Norway’s top scorer in the Champions League, overtaking Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who netted 19 times in the competition.

Third time lucky
Haaland’s second, though, was not without incident. In fact, the 20-year-old had three opportunities to net before finally getting back on the scoresheet.

First, he steam-rollered his way to goal before shooting past Bono, only to see referee Cuneyt Cakir bring review the action for suspected foul play.

It was deemed that Haaland had committed an infraction on Fernando on the way to goal, but VAR brought play back even further to spot a previous push on the forward by Jules Kounde.

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He took the penalty himself and saw Bono save both his first effort and the rebound, although the goalkeeper’s joy was short-lived as Cakir ordered a retake as he had strayed off his line.

Haaland was in no mood to give Sevilla another reprieve and converted his kick to finally claim the record – also earning a yellow card for his troubles due to squabbling with Kounde in the aftermath of the initial passage of play.