Erling Haaland scripts history with 300 career club goals, breaking the barrier quicker than Ronaldo and Mbappe/ Image: AP
Erling Haaland has done what he has become so accustomed to doing: score another goal and make history along the way. The Norway striker reached 300 club career goals as Manchester City maintained their perfect start to the Premier League season with a 1-0 victory over newly promoted Coventry City at the Etihad Stadium. It was another milestone in a career that has moved at extraordinary speed, although one familiar name still sits ahead of him.
Haaland reaches 300 goals in another landmark night
Haaland needed just 368 appearances across spells with Molde, Red Bull Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City to reach 300 club goals. That puts him behind only Lionel Messi, who reached the same mark in 365 appearances, while Haaland got there faster than both Kylian Mbappé, who needed 398 games, and Cristiano Ronaldo, who took 499. Messi's record has stood since 2013, when he scored his 300th and 301st goals for Barcelona against Granada. There is an important distinction, though. Messi reached the milestone entirely with Barcelona, whereas Haaland's 300 goals have been spread across four clubs. Haaland's latest came in the 26th minute against Coventry, when he rose to meet a precise cross from Antoine Semenyo and powered a header into the net. Semenyo had received an excellent pass from Enzo Fernández before delivering from the right, with Haaland providing the decisive finish. The goal was enough to give new Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca a perfect start to life in the post-Pep Guardiola era, despite the home side being unable to add to their lead. Haaland, however, felt City should have made the result considerably more comfortable. “I should have scored more goals to finish the game off but I didn't so I made it difficult for the team and managed to keep Coventry in the game until the end,” he told ESPN's Renato Senise. “In the Premier League if you don't execute it will be difficult.” It was Haaland's third goal in two games, another reminder that while City have undergone an enormous rebuild, their most reliable source of goals remains exactly where it was before. The club have spent more than £450 million ($609 million) revamping the squad under Maresca, with deadline-day arrivals including Fernández and Iliman Ndiaye. Both started against Coventry, alongside another major summer signing, Elliot Anderson. Yet Haaland remains City's prize asset.
Haaland now has Sergio Aguero's record in his sights
The 26-year-old has already established himself among Manchester City's greatest goalscorers. Haaland has scored 165 goals in 202 appearances for the club, leaving him second on City's all-time scoring list behind Sergio Aguero, who finished his decade at the Etihad with 260 goals in 390 games. At his current scoring rate, Haaland is on course to overtake Aguero within the next few seasons and become City's outright leading goalscorer. He has already taken one major scoring record away from the Argentine. Haaland became City's all-time leading scorer in the Champions League after reaching 49 goals in the competition, moving two clear of Aguero's tally. For now, though, Messi retains the more eye-catching benchmark: the fastest player to reach 300 club goals in the modern era.
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Maresca will hardly complain about having Haaland chasing that record while continuing to deliver points for City. “It's an important win, different from the first two,” Maresca said. “I'm very happy. I know the players day-by-day, we know each other. It means we will get better and better.” City are now three points clear of defending champions Arsenal, who face Chelsea on Sunday. The squad around Haaland may look very different from the one Guardiola left behind, but the Norwegian's role has not changed. Give him the chance, and he will keep rewriting the numbers.
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