Goal Record: Haaland and Lewandowski Compete Against Falcao, Messi, and Cristiano

The 2022-23 season in European soccer has only just begun, and so far two of the big signings, Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski, have lived up to the hype by doing what they're asked to do: score goals. It's very tempting, however early in the campaign, not to make any projections about the number of goals these two gunners can rack up.

At first glance, the fan, and the world of soccer in general, remembers three seasons: 2010-11 when Colombian Radamel Falcao scored 38 with Porto, with the added bonus that half of those goals were scored in the Europa League; the calendar year 2012, in which Lionel Messi scored 91 goals between Barcelona and the Argentine National Team; and the 2014-2015 campaign when Cristiano Ronaldo destroyed the nets 61 times adding Real Madrid and the Portuguese national team.

Until today, and in full FIFA date, Haaland has 13 goals in 8 games, 10 for the Premier League and three for the Champions League, while Lewandowski adds 10 in the same number of commitments, 7 in the Spanish League and also three in the European competition. Both lead the department in their respective championships and are strong candidates to win it.

In the domestic tournament, the Norwegian's projection at the moment reaches 60 goals, an absolutely utopian number, while "Tito" goes to 49 at the end of the campaign, remembering that both leagues are made up of 38 games. Both figures would exceed -in domestic terms- Messi's 31 and 28 in the league during 2011-12 and 12-13, and CR7's 48 in 14-15.

In UCL, they are both aiming for nine goals after the six-game group stage and after that it will depend on how far their teams go. If they reach at least the semifinals, six more games must be added and that would double the figure to 18 goals, which would equal Radamel Falcao's record in the Europa League 10-11 with Atlético de Madrid, and also exceed 17 of the aforementioned Portuguese star in the 2013-14 Champions League.

Qualities to break records

Haaland is only 22 years old and has scored more goals than many teams in various European leagues since his debut on May 12, 2016, with his country's Bryne FC. An unprecedented record, as well as his physical and technical qualities, but it is true that many compare him for his height (1.95 meters) and elasticity, with the Swedish Zlatan Ibrahimovic

If he is on a par with Cristiano Ronaldo, Haaland has played 193 games and has scored 149 goals. The Portuguese, with the same lifetime, had already played 221 games, but had only scored 55 goals. He is also much more resolute than Ibrahimovic and what fuels hopes of a record the most is the team he plays for, Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, which generates many scoring chances per game.

What “The Viking” has done so far equals what was done in 2019-2020 when he played for Salzburg in Austria, and he scored exactly the same number of goals between the domestic and European tournaments, 13 goals in eight games, with the plus that implies being three years younger and wearing the shirt of a less powerful team. According to ESPN data, Haaland has played 99 games and scored 100 goals since leaving Salzburg to conquer Europe.

The opposite is the case for Lewandowski, who is already a 34-year veteran and has long been one of the top scorers in Europe. This gunner got soccer used to being “normal” to score many goals with Bayern Munich, especially because of their dominance of the Bundesliga.

Robert has already won two FIFA Best Player awards (2020 and 2021) and has been named Goalscorer of the Season 18 times in the various championships and levels he has played. For many, he was the clear winner of the 2020 Ballon d'Or, just the year that France Football did not award the award due to the pandemic.

In the last six seasons, the Pole has maintained a high average of 13.6 goals in his first 10 games. Before this campaign, his best starts were the 2015-16 and 19-20 harvests, with 16 goals in the first eight days, and, in the second of those mentioned, he even had the luxury of scoring 23 goals during 16 consecutive games, something very difficult to overcome.

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Dream calendar year

Messi scored his 79 goals with Barça, plus 12 with the Argentine National Team during 2012, also surpassing -just 40 years later- the goalscoring record for a period of 12 months between January and December of Gerd Müller, who scored 85 times in the goal in 1972.

The total with the culé squad is distributed in 59 per League, 13 in the Champions League, 5 in the Copa del Rey and two in the Spanish Super Cup. An important fact is that the Rosario star also added 24 assists, which shows that in the calendar year he participated in 115 goals scored by his teams, a true madness.

CR7, absolute leader between 2013 and 2015

Three extraordinary years and, consecutively, Cristiano Ronaldo stringed together goals with Real Madrid -more than 50 in the three periods-. It was in the middle season, 14-15, the one that ended up being the best, with 61 goals in total, 48 of them with the Casa Blanca in the league, while the remaining 13 were divided into the other competitions with his club and with the selection.