Erling Haaland is on track to destroy Messi’s best-ever goalscoring season | OneFootball

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is scoring at a rate that threatens to eclipse Lionel Messi’s legendary 2011–12 campaign — the benchmark for individual brilliance in the modern game.

The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner was at the peak of his powers in 2011-12, playing at a level we thought we might never see again. Yet Haaland’s numbers suggest his otherworldly goalscoring numbers might actually be beaten.

We’ve broken down the stats of Messi’s outrageous 2011-12 season. Here’s how peak Messi stacks up against Haaland’s 2025-26 so far.

Lionel Messi’s best-ever season – 2011-12

73 goals for Barcelona

9 goals for Argentina

Total Goals: 82 Goals Per Game: 1.19

Pep Guardiola’s final season at the helm of Barcelona saw Messi break all kinds of records but ultimately miss out on the biggest prizes.

Despite Messi scoring 50 goals, Barca were pipped to the La Liga title by Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid, while they suffered a shock elimination to Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals.

Guardiola did at least get to wave goodbye with one final trophy though, with Messi – of course – scoring in a 3-0 victory over Marcelo Bielsa’s Athletic Club in the Copa del Rey final.

Fourteen years later, the Catalan coach is blessed with another extraterrestrial goalscoring machine and will hope those goals yield more silverware this time around.

Messi capped off his stellar individual year with a superb hat-trick in a 4-3 friendly victory over Brazil. That was his 82nd goal for club and country in just 69 matches, while he also notched a further 34 assists – we can safely assume Haaland won’t be matching that latter tally.

At the same stage of the 2011-12 season, Messi had scored 24 goals in 22 games for Barcelona and Argentina. Haaland is currently four ahead…

Erling Haaland’s 2025-26 so far

19 goals for Manchester City

9 goals for Norway

Total Goals: 28 Goals Per Game: 1.55

Haaland’s rate of 1.55 goals per game in all competitions could see him become the first top-level player to break the 100-goal barrier in a single campaign.

He needs to slightly up his rate of 1.27 goals per game in the Premier League if he’s to beat Messi’s record of 50 league goals from 2011-12, though – he’s currently tracking to end on 48.

If Haaland can maintain his current form, and play as many games as Messi did back in 2011-12, then he’s currently on track to score 106 goals for club and country in 2025-26.

Of course, those are major ifs.

Manchester City’s No.9 looks fully fit and incredibly sharp at the moment, but staying injury free throughout such a stacked campaign is a big ask. It’s more likely he picks up a knock at some point and at least misses a short period of action.

So far, Guardiola has rested Haaland for City’s League Cup outings, but they remain in the competition and he could feature from the quarters onwards.

That’s up to four games, plus potentially six more in the FA Cup, although you’d imagine the Norwegian would also be rotated out for the early rounds in the depths of winter.

With the expanded Champions League format, there are now eight ‘league phase’ games and a potential two extra qualifiers, with up to 17 outings in total.

Should City go all the way on every front, Haaland could feature in 65 games for City this this season.

He’s already played in three games for Norway and may feature in six more over the three international windows, not counting next summer’s World Cup.

In total, that’s up to 74 games – potentially five more than Messi played in 2011-12.

But with the likelihood of rest, rotation and City exiting one or all of the cup competitions at earlier stages – not to mention potential injuries – it looks a tall order for Haaland to match Messi’s tally of 69 appearances that year.

If we’re to put a reasonable estimate on it, somewhere between 55 and 65 appearances seems likely.