Erling Haaland has achieved a scoring milestone, and he did it well before some of the game's other greats.
With his header to put Manchester City ahead of Coventry Cityon Saturday, Sept. 5, Haaland reached 300 club goals. The goal, the lone strike in a 1-0 win over Frank Lampard's men, took him to 165 goals in 202 appearances for Manchester City. He also had 86 goals with Borussia Dortmund, 29 at Red Bull Salzburg and 20 with Molde in his native Norway.
Some stat services short Haaland one of the goals at Molde, putting him at 299, but most list him at 300 in 384 matches.
That puts him among the elite scorers of the modern game.
Lionel Messi took 365 games to hit 300 goals, achieving the feat all while wearing the Blaugrana of FC Barcelona, but
Haaland beat other legendary scorers to the mark. French phenom Kylian Mbappe needed 398 matches to get his first 300 club goals, Cristiano Ronaldo took 499 when he got there in the 2014-15 Real Madrid campaign and Harry Kane needed 505.
All of those numbers fall short of some of the players from the days of old, with Sporting CP's Fernando Peyroteo, Vasco da Gama legend Roberto Dinamite and a number of the "Magnificent Magyars" who made up Hungary's golden generation in the 1950s putting up video-game numbers long before systems were invented.
Already, Haaland had become one of the fastest players to 300 goals between club and country, with his exploits with Norway helping hit 300 goals in his career in the summer of 2025. With 370 matches needed to hit the triple century, Haaland beat Mbappe, Messi and Ronaldo - who all needed at least 400 games to bag the same number of goals.
Games to reach 300 career goals:
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) June 27, 2025
Ronaldo - 554 games
Messi - 418 games
Mbappé - 409 games
Haaland - 370 games
🤖 pic.twitter.com/Y7Qb5UoBLL
Haaland is closing in on club scoring records as well. Already the second all-time top scorer for City in the Premier League, he needs one more goal in any competition to tie Tommy Johnson for third on Man City's all-time list with 166 goals. Sergio Aguero, who scored 260, and Eric Brook, who netted 177, lead the list.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Erling Haaland beats Mbappe, Ronaldo to scoring milestone with Man City goal
