Can Erling Haaland get to Leo Messi’s historic 50 league goals from 2012?
Erling Haaland vs Leo Messi
Nobody is saying Erling Haaland will get to score more than 91 goals in a full year, what Leo Messi did back in 2012 is almost impossible to replicate. However, the Norwegian striker is keeping an even better pace than Leo did after 16 league games. The Manchester City striker returned to activity after missing the FIFA World Cup with a certain level of anger, he wants to prove himself as the best goal scorer in the world right now. On Saturday, the last game of 2022 for the Citizens got Haaland to score once more and reach his 21st goal of the Premier League season. His side didn’t get to win but Haaland is almost certain he will score, for as long as he remains healthy.
Comparing Messi’s first 16 games vs Haaland’s first 16 games
In terms of goal scoring, the 2011-12 Leo Messi did play the first 16 La Liga games of the season for FC Barcelona. He scored an incredible 17 goals in that time. Haaland played one less game after 16 Premier League fixtures for Manchester City and reached 21 goals already. He he keeps this same rhythm, there is a good chance he may be able to acore 50 goals after 38 games. Perhaps scoring those 91 goals is not as easy as it looks but Erling Haaland is the one player who can reach those wild numbers.
Remember how he presented himself to the world, back in 2019 when he scored 9 goals in a single match against Honduras. His U20 World Cup Norway side won that game 12-0 against the Concacaf team in Poland. Haaland hit the ground running from that moment forward, he’s been a non-stop goal-scoring machine everywhere he’s played. At this point, Manchester City has a tough chance to reach Arsenal at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners just won another three points after winning away against Brighton, which led them to a 7-point lead over City.
Haaland’s goals are one of the few hopes Pep Guardiola’s side has to shorten that point difference, especially at this pace. Both he and Kylian Mbappé are currently the most prolific goal-scorers in the world, they combined for 101 goals in 2022. Ten years ago, Messi alone scored those 91 goals, only 10 goals less than these two finished the year with. In order to reach those types of numbers, Haaland will need to bag quite a few hat-tricks in all competitions. But as far as the league is concerned, Erling is outpacing 2012’s Leo Messi. Can he pull it off?
