Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé are the superstars of this new generation in soccer. Being the face of the sport, the duo is often asked about their opinion on their predecessors, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The duo grabbed headlines for their latest comments on these icons of the game.
Erling Haaland spoke to TV2 about Cristiano Ronaldo: “How Cristiano moves, and how he has managed to develop his game. You remember when he played in Manchester United and the first years in Real Madrid, to become more of a striker in Real Madrid. It is incredible for him that he manages. But also how he scores the goals. It is the small movements in the box, and being able to deceive the defenders”
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These comments reflect how Haaland used to study Ronaldo’s movements and the way he found space when he was developing his own game. The influence of Ronaldo over Haaland is quite clear. These comments followed recent comments on Lionel Messi by Kylian Mbappe.
Mbappé spoke about Messi’s recent Ballon d’Or win by commenting: “Messi had to win Ballon d’Or, he won the World Cup, he’s one of the greatest in history, if not the greatest for me.” These comments raised some eyebrows among the online community, considering the relationship between Mbappe and Ronaldo.
⭐️ Mbappé: “Messi had to win Ballon d’Or, he won the World Cup, he’s one of the greatest in history, if not the greatest for me”.
“Haaland had a great season, me too, but next to winning World Cup it doesn’t weigh much. Leo deserved it”. pic.twitter.com/Ig7uqrZm77
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) November 17, 2023
These comments from Haaland and Mbappe about Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have raised some interesting conversations about the influence of Messi and Ronaldo over these new-gen superstars. While it is clear that there are more players who modeled their game around Ronaldo, it is also evident that many rate Lionel Messi as the greatest of all time.
Erling Haaland and Cristiano Ronaldo are among the top scorers of 2023
Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland have both been prolific throughout 2023. Both strikers have scored more than 40 goals for club and country in the calendar year. Ronaldo is defying age at the age of 38 with Al-Nassr and Portugal. He has scored 36 goals for the Saudi Pro League and 10 goals for Portugal in 2023 – 46 goals in total.
🔵🇳🇴 🚨Understand Erling Haaland’s injury is not serious and he will be fit for City vs Liverpool.
Haaland will not risk to play vs Scotland after his problem but he’ll be regularly back for Man City. pic.twitter.com/Nu0T6Eawrf
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) November 19, 2023
On the other hand, Erling Haaland leads the scoring charts in 2023 with 50 goals for Manchester City and Norway. The Norwegian striker had a little slump at the start of October, however, he is back in form again with nine goals in his last seven matches for club and country.
Cristiano Ronaldo was leading the scoring charts back in October but Erling Haaland has raced to the top with his performances in the last four weeks. This race is expected to go down to the wire with both players in peak form for the respective club. Ronaldo should be credited for his incredible longevity, as he finds himself in competition with players who grew up studying his career.