At the start of the Champions League, Manchester City's newcomer Erling Haaland just completed his 20th game in the premier class. The ex-BVB star scores twice and already has 25 goals under his belt. Nobody has ever been younger than him at this brand. He already has another record in sight.
What else is there to say about Erling Haaland? Except that he hits and hits and hits? For example, that he scores faster than anyone before in the Champions League. After his brace in Manchester City's 4-0 win at Sevilla, Haaland has already scored 25 goals in his 20 premier class games so far - no one in the history of the competition has reached this goal faster or younger than the ex-Dortmunder.
Nevertheless, his teammate Kevin De Bruyne still sees room for improvement in the 22-year-old. "I think the way he has adapted to our game is really good," said the Belgian. "But besides scoring goals, there's another part of our game that's not so easy to adapt to. That only makes it more exciting. If he can adapt to that as well, our level will rise."
Haaland scored again in the first Champions League game with his new club. He had previously done that with Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund. "The Champions League is back and I love it," he wrote on Twitter. His first goal was 1-0 in the 20th minute, and in the 67th he made it 3-0.
Although he was extremely valuable for BVB and his departure is regretted, sports director Sebastian Kehl was also relieved. "As much as we always liked Erling and as successful as he was with us - in the end the issue became a certain burden in the dressing room, in the club and in the environment," Kehl told "Sport Bild". Haaland himself "is the least responsible for it. Almost everything simply focused on him in terms of external impact and covered many BVB topics that would have been important as well." According to Kehl, the timing of the transfer to Manchester City was “in the end the right one for both sides”.
But Haaland's success is outstanding: in the history of the Champions League there are now only 31 players who have scored more goals than the Norwegian. He has just completed 20 games in the premier class. One of those who stand above Haaland is Kylian Mbappé. The Frenchman also started the new season with a brace in Paris Saint-Germain's 2-1 win over Juventus. At the age of 23 years and 260 days, the striker is now the youngest player in Champions League history to have scored 35 goals. Let's see if Erling Haaland breaks this record.
