Erling Haaland Becomes Fastest Player in History to Reach Major Champions League Milestone

Manchester City returned to Champions League action with a 2–0 victory over Napoli.

Erling Haaland broke another record for Man City on Thursday. / James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images

Erling Haaland toppled another Champions League record on Thursday evening as he scored in Manchester City’s 2–0 win over Napoli.

An early red card for Napoli skipper Giovanni Di Lorenzo made for an easy night for City, with Jérémy Doku’s excellent solo effort adding to a well-taken header from their Norwegian sharpshooter after the restart.

For Haaland, it was his 12th goal of the season for club and country, with his opener against Napoli building on a clinical brace scored in the weekend’s 3–0 victory over Manchester United.

The 25-year-old was unable to grab a double on this occasion but still made history by becoming the quickest player to reach 50 Champions League goals. He’s reached his half-century in just 49 matches in the competition, blitzing the previous record.

Haaland has been on fire this season. / Molly Darlington/Copa/Getty Images

Former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy was the previous holder of the record, achieving the impressive feat in 62 matches.

Haaland scored eight of his Champions League goals with RB Salzburg and another 15 with Borussia Dortmund, with Thursday’s effort his 27th in the competition since joining City. It was only his fifth header, however, with 11 right-footed and 34 left-footed strikes in total.

City’s No.9 is now level with Arsenal legend Thierry Henry on the list of all-time Champions League top scorers, and only six off Van Nistelrooy. He’s already surpassed the likes of Andriy Shevchenko and Zlatan Ibrahimović.

Haaland will be have the chance to move above Henry in the rankings when City travel to Monaco in their next Champions League encounter on October 1.

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