Erling Haaland, the prolific Manchester City striker, recently etched his name into the history books by surpassing Alan Shearer and Andrew Cole’s record for the most goals scored in a single Premier League season. Haaland netted his 35th goal of the campaign in City’s 3-0 win over West Ham United on Wednesday, overtaking the previous record of 34 goals that had stood for almost three decades.
Despite his remarkable feat, Haaland still has some way to go before he can claim the single-season goal record across all of Europe’s top leagues. The current records are held by:
- Josip Skoblar (44 goals) – Ligue 1
- Lionel Messi (50 goals) – LaLiga
- Robert Lewandowski (41 goals) – Bundesliga
- Gino Rossetti, Gonzalo Higuain, and Ciro Immobile (joint-record of 36 goals) – Serie A
Haaland’s achievement is even more impressive considering that Cole and Shearer reached their respective tallies during 42-game seasons, just prior to the Premier League being reduced from 22 teams to 20 for the 1995-96 campaign. Moreover, Haaland has the opportunity to further extend his record, with five of City’s 38 league games remaining.
Haaland’s goal-scoring prowess is beyond question, but it is worth noting that he has yet to face a direct goal rival in the Premier League to spur him on. Contrast this with LaLiga’s Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who in the 2011-12 season scored 50 and 46 goals respectively, and one can only imagine the heights to which Haaland could be propelled if he were to have a direct challenger in the English top flight.
Looking beyond Haaland’s remarkable achievement, one cannot help but marvel at the striking feats of Skoblar, Messi, Lewandowski, Rossetti, Higuain, and Immobile. These players have etched their names into the annals of football history by setting goal-scoring records that are unlikely to be broken anytime soon.
