While breaking into the top 10 all-time scorers in the UEFA Champions League, Erling Haaland also equaled one of Cristiano Ronaldo’s career records.
Erling Haaland has been breaking scoring records since bursting onto the world soccer scene, and despite a challenging campaign last year, the Norwegian striker is rediscovering his best form at the start of the 2025-26 season. By breaking into the top 10 of the UEFA Champions League’s all-time scorers list, Haaland has now equaled one of Cristiano Ronaldo’s remarkable career records.
Manchester City visited Villarreal for Matchday 3 of the Champions League looking to climb toward the top of their group. After a brilliant build-up play, Rico Lewis delivered a precise cross that Haaland finished clinically inside the box, opening the scoring in the 17th minute. City went on to win 2-0, while Haaland once again etched his name into the history books.
The goal against Villarreal marked Haaland’s 12th consecutive game finding the back of the net across all competitions, equaling Cristiano Ronaldo’s career record. A feat previously achieved only by Ronaldo during his time with Real Madrid and the Portugal national team has now been matched by Haaland through his performances with Manchester City and Norway.
Haaland’s scoring streak began on August 31 against Brighton & Hove Albion, when he found the net in City’s 2-1 defeat. Since then, he has scored 21 goals and provided 3 assists in his next 11 appearances, 4 of them with Norway and 7 with City across the Champions League and Premier League.
Haaland’s 12-game scoring streak:
- Premier League game vs. Brighton: one goal.
- International friendly vs. Finland: one goal.
- UEFA World Cup qualifiers vs. Moldavia: five goals.
- Premier League game vs. Manchester United: two goals.
- UEFA Champions League game vs. Napoli: one goal.
- Premier League game vs. Arsenal: one goal.
- Premier League game vs. Burnley: two goals.
- UEFA Champions League game vs. AS Monaco: two goals.
- Premier League game vs. Brentford: one goal.
- UEFA World Cup qualifiers vs. Israel: three goals.
- Premier League game vs. Everton: two goals.
- UEFA Champions League game vs. Villarreal: one goal.
Haaland breaks into Champions League top 10
Haaland’s streak has also propelled him to the top of the 2026 UEFA World Cup Qualifiers scoring chart with 12 goals, as well as to the top of the 2025-26 Premier League with 11. Though currently just one goal behind Kylian Mbappé in this season’s Champions League scoring race, the Norwegian continues his rapid climb up the competition’s all-time rankings.
Haaland’s latest strike against Villarreal took his Champions League tally to 53 goals in 51 games, surpassing Mohamed Salah for 10th place on the all-time list. His next target is Thomas Müller, who sits ninth with 57 goals for Bayern Munich. At just 25 years old, if Haaland maintains this prolific form, he’s well on track to challenge the top spots in the coming years.
