The era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is drawing to a close but two new generation-defining players have well and truly arrived to take their place – Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.
The two players look set to dominate football for years to come, given they line up for two of Europe’s biggest clubs.
Mbappe burst onto the scene a couple of years earlier than Haaland, having caught the eye as a teenager in Monaco’s miraculous 2016-17 title win and run to the Champions League semi-finals. He’s since lifted the World Cup and won four Ligue 1 titles in five years with PSG and been wildly prolific for the Parisiens.
Haaland is 18 months younger but was being talked up as one to watch as a youth prospect. Word was spreading of Alf-Inge Haaland’s son and how he managed three hat-tricks in one game against Honduras’ Under-20s and he’s more than living up to that early hype.
He’s since risen through the ranks at Molde, Red Bull Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund and now looks on track to absolutely smash all manner of goalscoring records as the focal point of Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Manchester City.
The seeds of a new rivalry were sewn back in March 2020 when PSG knocked Haaland’s Dortmund out of the Champions League and celebrated by imitating the Norwegian’s ‘zen’ pose celebration.
The two players haven’t been shy about speaking about one another when reporters have asked them about the potentially era-defining rivalry.
“When I saw Mbappe score the hat trick, I got free motivation, so thanks to him,” Haaland said of Mbappe’s hat-trick against Barcelona back in February 2021 – before going on to bag a brace against Sevilla.
“He scored some nice goals and I got a free boost from him. So yeah, it was nice.”
Former Barcelona and Arsenal forward Thierry Henry currently backs his compatriot Mbappe over Haaland in the debate.
“Mbappe can create and finish. Haaland doesn’t create. He finishes,” the Frenchman told CBS Sports.
“Mbappe can play on the right and on the left. He can play in the middle. Haaland can only play in the middle.
“He is a magnificent player and with him they can win the Champions League last year. Against Real Madrid, if it was him at the end of those chances that they missed, they will have been focused on scoring one or two. For now, Mbappe is still my vote.”
But which of the two superstars are enjoying the more impressive campaign in 2022-23 so far? We’ve taken a look at how…
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