The battle for the position of the world’s highest scorer in 2023 is only a competition between Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland. The advantage for Ronaldo is that Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe will not play any matches for the rest of this year and Haaland is unlikely to play.
Both Man City and Al-Nassr played in Saudi Arabia a few days ago but in two different arenas. In Jeddah, Man City crushed Fluminense 4-0 in the FIFA Club World Cup 2023 final. Meanwhile, at home, Al-Nassr defeated Al-Ittifaq in round 18 of the 2023/24 Saudi League.
Notably, Man City’s No. 1 star, Haaland, did not play in the win against Fluminense. The Norwegian international was not registered in Man City’s victory over Urawa Red Diamonds in the semi-finals. According to FIFA regulations, players not on the registration list in the semi-finals will not be allowed to play in the FIFA Club World Cup final.
While Haaland was absent from the FIFA Club World Cup final, Ronaldo shone in the 3-1 win over Al-Ittifaq. This match CR7 scored 1 goal and had 1 assist. According to statistics, Ronaldo is the player with the most goals (17) and assists (9) in the Saudi Arabia National Championship this season.
The reason Ronaldo and Haaland receive special attention is because they are both competing in the competition for the world’s highest scorer in 2023 (both at club and national team levels). Along with Haaland and Ronaldo, two more players reached the top of the world’s highest scoring list this year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG) and Harry Kane (Bayern Munich). However, Mbappe and Kane have no chance to improve their scoring achievements because Bayern and PSG are off for Christmas and New Year 2024.
While Mbappe and Kane, the top scoring duo in 2023, scoring 52 goals together, have run out of chances to score, Ronaldo and Haaland have 2 more matches to increase their achievement. In this battle, Ronaldo holds a big advantage because he can score more goals in two matches against Al-Ittihad (December 27) and Al-Taawon (December 31).
It is unclear whether Haaland will play in the two matches against Everton (December 28) and Sheffield United (December 30). The Norwegian international had to rest recently due to a leg injury. Currently, Ronaldo (51 goals) is ranked above Haaland (50 goals) on this list with 1 more goal. Both are behind Mbappe and Kane with 1 and 2 fewer goals respectively.