Real Madrid target makes Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi admission amid Manchester City heroics | OneFootball

Erling Haaland remained humble when quizzed on where he stands in comparison to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo amid a fine run of form for Manchester City.

Fresh from scoring another pivotal brace for Manchester City at the weekend, the Norway international is set to come up against his former club Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday evening.

Haaland is in the form of his life and took his tally to 17 goals in all competitions for Manchester City this season with two first-half strikes against Bournemouth on Sunday, catapulting Pep Guardiola’s side to second place in the Premier League.

City can maintain the pressure on league leaders and title favourites Arsenal with three points against title holders Liverpool on Sunday, with Haaland set to have a big say in how City come out of the most crucial week of their 2025-26 campaign so far.

The Leeds-born forward, who joined Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, has single-handedly dragged his side out of their early-season rut of form that left the Blues languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League table at the end of August.

City made a strong start to their 2025-26 league campaign with a convincing 4-0 win over Wolves but successive defeat to Tottenham and Brighton brought back memories of the 2024-25 season – wherein Guardiola and co were handed a sobering reality check after four consecutive Premier League title wins.

However, Haaland has been City’s knight in shining armour and there are concerns at the Etihad Stadium over an over-reliance on the former Salzburg star, who is on the verge of breaking every goalscoring record this is to break if he carries this form into 2026.

Haaland has received huge praise for leading by example on the pitch this season, with his defensive contributions and all-round game standing out in a group that lost several leaders in the summer, when Haaland was appointed to City’s captaincy group alongside Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias and Rodri.

City need Haaland fit and firing if they are to mount a challenge for major trophies this season – it is quite literally as simple as that. Speaking in a press conference ahead of a visit from Dortmund to Manchester on Wednesday, Haaland was asked whether he has set a personal target to pip the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo with his goalscoring.

“No, not at all, far off. No one can get close to them two, so no,” the Norwegian said in a humble manner on Tuesday, further underpinning why he has become a universally likeable figure in professional football.

Haaland penned a long-term contract extension at the Etihad Stadium in January that is set to keep him at Manchester City till the summer of 2034, though there is always talk of a potential move to Real Madrid at some point in the future.

The striker’s representatives have hinted that Haaland wants to test his talents in every top-five European league at some stage in his career but it is difficult to imagine a scenario where the boyhood Manchester City fan will want to call it quits at the Etihad Stadium anytime soon.