Haaland equals Ronaldo, moves closer to van Nistelrooy record

Erling Haaland cannot stop scoring at the moment, and his latest extraordinary goalscoring feat has brought him closer to eclipsing a record set by Premier League great Ruud van Nistelrooy. 

Haaland has been unplayable for much of the 2022/23 season, and during the week, he became only the second person to score five goals in a single UEFA Champions League knockout round match. 

He followed that up with a hat-trick in the FA Cup as Manchester City decimated former captain, Vicent Kompany, and his Burnley side by six goals to nil. 

Haaland’s hat-trick, his first in the FA Cup and sixth in all competitions this season, took him to 42 goals for the season. 

The Norwegian forward has had a dream start to life in England, and he has put up numbers that have rivalled some of the greatest players that the league has seen. 

His five-goal haul against RB Leipzig put him ahead of Sergio Aguero as the Manchester City player with the most goals in a season, and his subsequent hat-trick against Burnley saw him equal another Manchester great, Cristiano Ronaldo, for his highest tally in a single season in England which he achieved in the 2007/08 season. 

Haaland is now just two goals away from equalling a record set by yet another Manchester United icon, van Nistelrooy, who, along with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, has scored the most goals in all competitions, in a single season by a Premier League player. 

With the way things are going, van Nistelrooy and Salah could see Haaland break their record in the very next gameweek.