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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Kieran King

Erling Haaland on course to smash another record amid Kylian Mbappe competition

Erling Haaland became the fastest player to score 30 Champions League goals on Tuesday after he struck five for Manchester City in their 7-0 triumph over RB Leipzig.

The 22-year-old opened the scoring with a controversial penalty, before striking a further four times as Pep Guardiola's side booked their place into the quarter-final of the competition with an 8-1 aggregate win. Kevin de Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan also found the net on a famous night at the Etihad Stadium.

In the meantime, Haaland smashed the record for the quickest player to reach 30 goals in Europe's elite club competition - achieving that feat in just 25 matches. The Norwegian surpassed Ruud van Nistelrooy's return after he reached the tally in 34 games.

This follows up Haaland's record he set during his time at Borussia Dortmund, where he tallied up the fewest appearances (14) to reach 20 Champions League goals - beating Harry Kane's previous feat. He was also the youngest player to notch 20 in the competition at just 20 years and 231 days.

Now, Haaland will have his sights set on scoring 50 Champions League goals - and has 36 matches to score 20 more if he wants to beat another Van Nistelrooy record. The Dutch legend starred for PSV, Manchester United and Real Madrid, where he scored 50 goals in his first 62 games in the competition.

Kylian Mbappe, meanwhile, will have to score 10 in his next appearance should he wants to match that feat, having notched 40 in his first 61 Champions League matches. The Paris Saint-Germain ace will be eyeing up Cristiano Ronaldo's record of 140 goals in the tournament - and still aged just 24 - he will no doubt fancy his chances.

Erling Haaland scored five goals against RB Leipzig (Getty Images)

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Another one of Europe's most prolific forwards, Robert Lewandowski, is on target to reach the 100 mark in fewer appearances than either Lionel Messi or Ronaldo. The Barcelona hitman has 91 in 111 matches so far.

However, Mbappe and Lewandowski won't have another opportunity to add to their tallies this season as PSG and Barcelona are both out of the Champions League. PSG were beaten by Bayern Munich in the last-16, while Barca crashed out of their group and have also since been knocked out of the Europa League.

The same could be applied to Messi, who won't be able to add to his 129 in the competition this season due to PSG's misfortunes, while Ronaldo is currently plying his trade for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.

It gives Haaland another chance to score a hatful of goals when City play in the quarter-final next month, although Guardiola's side haven't yet found out their opponents. They could face Real Madrid, Bayern, Chelsea, Benfica, Inter Milan, AC Milan or the winners of Real Madrid vs Liverpool, and Napoli vs Frankfurt.

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