Erling Haaland stats compared to Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi at the same age

As arguably his generation’s brightest star, Erling Haaland is no stranger to comparisons with two of the greatest to ever grace the beautiful game.

Back in 2021, the then-Borussia Dortmund striker had to fend off what he considered to be fanciful talk when comparions to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo first began to surface.

“The media are the ones who write about it,” Haaland told the Spanish publication Marca. “I don’t focus on those things.” However, a record-breaking debut season at Manchester City has prompted Ronaldo and Messi comparisons from sources beyond the pages of the press.

After Haaland plundered his 30th Premier League goal of the season, emphatically swatting a bicycle kick past Southampton’s Gavin Bazunu with arguably the best strike of his 44 across all competitions, Pep Guardiola was drawn into the debate.

“As a top scorer we lived two incredible decades with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, but he is on that level,” Guardiola gushed.

Guardiola is no stranger to hyperbole in the wake of a convincing victory. Two years ago, Haaland claimed that Ronaldo and Messi ‘are still very far away’. Yet, let’s take a look at how the 22-year-old’s achievements compare to those of the game’s greats when they were his age.

Haaland made his debut at a younger age than both Messi and Ronaldo but has accrued fewer appearances than either icon at this stage of his career.

As a gangly 15-year-old, Haaland ‘was quite small and narrow’ according to national team coach Gunnar Halle but Bryne’s boss Gaute Larsen tossed the teenager into Norway’s second tier regardless. Haaland moved to top flight Molde the following year, with his rapid ascent from 2018 onwards only hampered but niggling muscular injuries during his time at Borussia Dortmund.

Messi had barely stopped requiring daily growth hormone treatment as a 15-year-old and didn’t make his debut for Barcelona’s senior side until he was 17. Injuries and a gentle introduction to the first-team setup by Frank Rijkaard curbed Messi’s involvement before he became undroppable under Guardiola.

Ronaldo was also 17 when Laszlo Boloni thrust the spaghetti-haired winger into a Champions League qualifier for Sporting CP. Ronaldo began training with the Lisbon side’s first team as a 16-year-old but was restricted to only playing in friendlies. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop him from racking up more than 300 appearances – most of which were for Manchester United – before his 23rd birthday.

This is where the comparisons swing in Haaland’s favour. At the tender age of 22 – and not 23 until July – Haaland has already totted up an astonishing 200 senior goals for club and country.

Ronaldo had barely crept over a single century at this stage of his nascent career, evolving into more of a pure poacher during the later years of his time at Real Madrid. If Haaland can match Ronaldo’s prolonged efficiency in front of goal after his 30th birthday, the Norwegian will never be left out of a conversation for the modern greats.

When Guardiola first met Messi as a 21-year-old, he promised: “With me, you’ll score three or four goals a game.” The Catalan was a little off but Messi’s scoring rate did explode once he took over Barcelona in 2008. After averaging 0.36 goals per game under Rijkaard, Messi was clocking in at 0.72 per match with Guardiola at the helm before he turned 23. Yet, that uptick was not enough to get anywhere near Haaland’s outrageous goal haul – which is only set to grow.

Guardiola caveated his initial praise of Haaland by describing Messi as ‘the more complete player’ when compared to the other two individuals under the microscope. However, Ronaldo surprisingly comes out on top for assists among this trio before the age of 23.

Both Boloni and Sir Alex Ferguson had shifted Ronaldo – who arrived in Sporting’s first team as a striker – to the flanks. In a Manchester United team that contained the finishing prowess of Ruud van Nistelrooy and a young Wayne Rooney, Ronaldo had no shortage of targets to aim at.

Messi is narrowly behind his long-term rival in this particular statistic – and boasts a considerably higher overall tally when the rest of his career is considered – but Haaland lags behind.

While not quite the goal-centric striker he is often painted as, Haaland is not the provider that Messi and Ronaldo were.

Messi won more trophies in 2009 alone than either Ronaldo or Haaland during the first chapter of their careers.

The top scorer of Guardiola’s all-conquering Barcelona, Messi was also part of the Ronaldinho-inspired vintage which won the 2006 Champions League under Rijkaard. Ronaldo won one minor cup with Sporting before the trophies began to tumble at Old Trafford but didn’t claim his first Champions League title until he had turned 23.

Having come through the lower leagues with Bryne and briefly lead the line of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Molde, Haaland got his first taste of silverware at Austrian giants Red Bull Salzburg. The 22-year-old scored twice in the DFB Pokal final for Borussia Dortmund in 2021, for the club’s first major trophy in four years.

However, with Manchester City still in the hunt for three competitions this season, Haaland may add to his haul before the summer.

All stats via Transfermarkt and correct as of 09/04/2023