Carra: Haaland will be greatest goalscorer of all time

· Sky-PL

Jamie Carragher believes Erling Haaland will be the "best goalscorer of all time" after his double earned Manchester City a 2-0 win at Porto in the Champions League.

> "The problem is, the older you get, the lesser team you're going to play for. The lesser team you play for, that means they've got fewer better players. If they haven't got better players, you're not going to score as many goals.

> "He would have to play at the top with top, top players for a long, long time. But he's a machine. A thousand goals? That'll be hard because he's got to stay hungry at the same time. He's been around a while already.

> "You're talking about another six, seven years at the top level. It takes its toll in the end. There are a lot of injuries. But if you said to me he's going to stay at Man City for the next seven, eight years, then I think, yeah, who knows? He could do it."

Haaland: I could've scored more in Porto win

Haaland has hit five goals in five appearances across all competitions under new boss Enzo Maresca - but the ex-Borussia Dortmund forward felt he could have scored more against Porto.

He told Amazon Prime:

> "Amazing game against the champions of Portugal. We knew it was going to be a difficult fight, man against man. They're a top team, impressive, all of them. They play amazing football.

> "Well done to them. But with all the pressure, we have to deliver on the biggest stage. That's what we did tonight.

> "Honestly, we controlled the whole first half. Of course, it's a bit uncomfortable when they come high. But we created a lot of chances. I could have easily had a few more goals.

> "But second half, we scored and they managed to push us for a good 25 minutes. We managed to hold through and finish the game.

> "These are the games we have to win. We had a great start to the season, and in the Champions League, you have to win games. If not, you get all the pressure."

Stats: Is 1,000 goals really possible?

Sky Sports' data editor Adam Smith:

Carragher believes Haaland could become the greatest goalscorer of all time, and the numbers suggest reaching 1,000 career goals is plausible.

At 26 years and 49 days old, Haaland has already scored 364 senior goals. At the same age, Lionel Messi had 348 and Cristiano Ronaldo 219, meaning Haaland is 16 goals ahead of Messi and a remarkable 145 clear of Ronaldo at the same stage of their careers.

Haaland still needs another 636 goals to reach four figures, but his recent scoring rate puts the milestone within range.

Since joining Manchester City in 2022, he has averaged around 51 goals per year for club and country. Maintaining that rate would take him to 1,000 at around 38 years and eight months - although matching Ronaldo's extraordinary longevity would be just as important as maintaining his prolific scoring rate.

Read the original

People in this story

Related