Two more of Messi’s Champions League records fall
A couple of long-standing Lionel Messi records have fallen after another round of Champions League football.
Erling Haaland’s two goals against PSG saw him become the youngest player in UCL history to reach 60 goals, beating Messi’s previous record by a single day. Haaland scored his 60th at the age of 26 years and 85 days.
While over in Rome, Kylian Mbappe became the youngest player to reach 100 UCL appearances.
The free-scoring Frenchman registered his century of games at the age of 27 years and 298 days, beating Messi’s record by 151 days.
The stats are a little skewed in Mbappe’s favour though as he has had two and a bit seasons of the new Champions League format which can see clubs play up to 17 games compared to the maximum of 13 in the old format.
It is still an impressive feat regardless, with Mbappe having played Champions League football in all but one of the seasons of his career so far, making his debut as a 17-year-old against Bayer Leverkusen in 2016.
The former Monaco and PSG player looks the strongest contender to take a lot of Messi’s goalscoring records as well.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner currently has the most Champions League group stage/league phase goals and the most Champions League round of 16 goals, but Mbappe has 45 goals in the first stage of the competition, 35 short of Messi’s tally, and 12 goals to Messi’s 29 in the round of 16.
Both milestones are possible but would take consistently high-scoring seasons from the Madrid man.
If he continues at his goalscoring rate then Mbappe will almost certainly overtake Messi’s all-time goals in the competition and maybe even make himself the top scorer in UCL history.
Mbappe currently has 72 goals in 100 games while Messi has 129 in 163. Top of the charts is Cristiano Ronaldo on 140 goals in 183 games and so Mbappe would have to pretty much double his tally before his career is over.
It is not unreasonable to think that he could. He is scoring at a ratio of 0.72 goals a game, which is only marginally worse than the 0.79 of Messi and 0.77 of Ronaldo, and as he is only 27, he has plenty of years at the top left to go.
Perhaps though Haaland would be a better bet to break the record. The Norwegian is the only player in the top 50 who is averaging more than a goal a game with hss 61 in 60, boosted by his brace against PSG on Wednesday, and could easily reach Messi and Ronaldo if he continues at that pace.
The Manchester City striker is also younger than Mbappe at 26, although may lose out on a season if his club are suddenly in the National League.
Considering his goalscoring ability, you also would not rule out Haaland matching the record for most hat-tricks in the competition. Both Ronaldo and Messi scored eight in their careers with Haaland currently on two. Mbappe meanwhile is on five.
In terms of reaching early milestones, it is likely that Lamine Yamal will break plenty of Messi records.
The Argentine has the record for the youngest player to score 50 and 100 Champions League goals and Yamal should easily surpass this.
The Barcelona winger currently has 35 goals at the age of 19 years and 94 days while Messi was 24 years and 285 days when he scored his 50th Champions League goal. That gives Yamal over five years to score 15 goals which, barring a catastrophic loss of form, seems likely he will achieve.
If he does so, he will be in good stead to take Messi’s record for 100 goals too. Messi was 30 years and 263 days old when he scored his 100th against Chelsea back in 2018.
Realistically, Yamal is currently the only contender to beat Messi’s record of most Champions League goals with one club. Messi scored 120 for Barcelona, 15 more than Ronaldo got for Madrid, and as both Haaland and Mbappe have moved clubs, they will find it tough to reach those heights.
Haaland has 38 for City, two more than Sergio Aguero managed, while Mbappe has 24 for Madrid, having scored 42 for PSG.
Harry Kane has impressively already scored 36 for Bayern, but his age makes it unlikely he will get close to the top.
But Kane could beat a non-Messi record of most consecutive Champions League games with a goal.
The Englishman is on nine, which is joint second with Ruud van Nistelrooy and two Robert Lewandowski entries, while Ronaldo is the leader on 11.
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