Manchester City have placed Erling Haaland atop of their list of potential Sergio Aguero replacements and anticipate strong competition from Real Madrid for his signature, according to The Telegraph’s Mike McGrath.
Chelsea are reportedly prepared to pay a club-record fee for the Borussia Dortmund marksman, but City apparently expect Real Madrid to make the first significant move to sign Haaland this summer.
Haaland, 20, is widely reported to be available for £68 million in 15 months due to a release clause in his Dortmund contract, but a higher offer could put his club under pressure to sell in the next transfer window. McGrath describes the battle to sign Haaland as a “£100-million race.”
The Norwegian – whose father, Alf-Inge Haaland, captained Manchester City – has regularly smashed goal-scoring records since boosting his reputation with Red Bull Salzburg during the 2019-20 Champions League group stage. He’s tallied 20 goals in Europe’s flagship competition quicker than any other player, and he’s notched an incredible 34 goals in 36 Bundesliga appearances for Dortmund after joining them at the end of 2019.
Haaland has also scored six times in seven international outings for Norway ahead of the national team’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Gibraltar, Turkey, and Montenegro.
Aguero, whom Haaland could replace at Manchester City, is the club’s all-time leading scorer and famously notched the dramatic title-winning strike against Queens Park Rangers in 2012. But the 32-year-old Argentine has struggled to win back his place in Pep Guardiola’s starting XI since overcoming a spate of injuries.
Lionel Messi celebrated his record-breaking 768th appearance for Barcelona with two goals and an assist in Sunday’s 6-1 drubbing of Real Sociedad.
The 33-year-old set the milestone after tying club legend Xavi on 767 appearances in last week’s 4-1 win over Huesca.
Messi is now the Blaugrana’s all-time leader in games played, goals scored (663), assists (287), and titles won (34).
? A L O N E A T T H E T O P ? ? An otherworldly player ?? A stratospheric number ? #Messi768 #Messi ? pic.twitter.com/wSc9CXJjsq
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 21, 2021
Messi, who’s starred for the club since making his first-team debut in 2004, has exploded into form, racking up 16 goals and seven assists in his last 12 matches.
The good vibes continued Sunday with another monumental victory that keeps Barcelona in the La Liga title race. The Spanish giants are four points behind Atletico Madrid with 10 games remaining.
Though Messi’s future at Barcelona remains unclear, there’s hope he’ll renew his contract before it expires at the end of June. Despite facing mounting debt, newly elected club president Joan Laporta has vowed to do everything he can to keep Messi, who nearly left Barcelona last summer, citing differences with then-president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Cristiano Ronaldo is laying claim to the world scoring record after notching the 768th, 769th, and 770th goals of his career during Juventus’ 3-1 win over Cagliari on Sunday. But some clubs and retired players may question his achievement.
The 36-year-old said he recognized Pele’s goal tally in competitive games as 767, and that he was level with the Brazilian icon until his three-goal outburst over the weekend. Pele has corroborated Ronaldo’s version of events.
“… I’m filled with joy and pride as I acknowledge the goal that puts me on top of the world’s goalscoring list, overcoming Pele’s record, something that I could never have dreamed of while growing up as a child from Madeira,” Ronaldo wrote on Facebook.
“Believe me, this story is still far from being over,” he added. “The future is tomorrow and there’s still a lot to win for Juventus and Portugal!”
Ronaldo represented Sporting CP, Manchester United, and Real Madrid before joining Juventus in 2018. He’s scored 102 of his 770 goals for Portugal.
Goal records have been the subject of heated debates across world football in recent months. In December, Barcelona congratulated Lionel Messi on becoming the player with the most goals for a single club after he netted his 644th for the Blaugrana. But Santos, Pele’s former side, soon tried to hush the celebrations.
Mirrorpix / Mirrorpix / Getty
Santos claimed Pele had scored 1,091 goals for them – 448 more than Messi at the time – after they supplemented his total with statistics from non-competitive fixtures.
“In the expert press accounts, O Rei scored 643 in competitive matches and the 448 goals scored in friendly matches and tournaments were ostracized as if they hold less value,” Santos said, adding, “A goal against Transvaal (from Suriname) has the same value as a goal scored at Real Madrid, in the middle of the Santiago Bernabeu.”
Pele likes to include goals during friendlies in his own count, too. The three-time World Cup winner proudly declares himself the “Leading Goal Scorer of All Time” on his Instagram page with 1,283 goals. In addition to his production at Santos, Pele racked up goals for his homeland, the New York Cosmos in the North American Soccer League, and while playing on teams cobbled together for exhibition fixtures.
Despite his assertion putting him at 513 goals more than Ronaldo, Pele has acknowledged on social media that the Juventus superstar’s record is relevant for competitive games.
“Congratulations on breaking my record of goals in official matches. My only regret is not being able to give you a hug today,” Pele wrote on Instagram.
Pele’s compatriot Romario, who starred for Brazil between 1987 and 2005, also claims to have reached quadruple figures in his career. But FIFA has described that as a “personal count,” noting in 2007 that the legendary No. 11 “openly includes 77 goals he scored at the youth level and a further 21 in friendly and testimonial matches.”
Numerous sources believe Romario’s actual haul is around 750 goals.
Tony Marshall – EMPICS / PA Images / Getty
But in reality, the globe’s all-time top scorer might not come from Portugal or Brazil. He could be a Vienna-born marksman who started his 24-year career in 1931.
Josef Bican played his club football for a range of Eastern European clubs, including Rapid Vienna and Slavia Prague, averaging 1.52 goals per game, according to FIFA. The governing body understands that rate, along with his exploits for Austria and Czechoslovakia, put him at an “estimated” 805 goals when he retired, while the Czech national football team says he scored 821 goals in official matches.
Bican’s total includes 27 goals scored for Rapid Vienna’s reserve and amateur teams, “in addition to some that were scored not in official international matches,” Agence France-Presse reports. Discounting those efforts would knock Bican down to 794 goals at most – 24 more than Ronaldo. And some researchers claim there’s data missing from the player’s 1952 season in the Czech second division.
At the moment, it would seem Ronaldo has clinched the true world scoring record, unless researchers scouring newspaper archives throughout Eastern Europe can uncover indisputable numbers for Bican.
The eight remaining teams in this season’s Champions League learned their respective routes to the showpiece match of the tournament in Friday’s draw for the competition’s quarterfinal and semifinal stages.
A pair of rematches from recent finals highlights the last eight.
Holders Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, in an encore of last year’s title-deciding contest, will meet once again, while Real Madrid will be hoping to replicate their victory over Liverpool from the infamous 2018 final.
Quarterfinal matchups
The clubs listed first in their respective matchups will play the first leg at home. Quarterfinal first legs will take place on April 6 and 7, with the return fixtures slated for April 13 and 14.
Semifinal matchups
UEFA filled out the Champions League bracket by also teeing up the final four Friday. Should both advance, the two tournament favorites, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, will go head-to-head in the semifinals.
Winner of quarterfinal 3 vs. winner of quarterfinal 1
Winner of quarterfinal 4 vs. winner of quarterfinal 2
The first legs of the semifinals will be played on April 27 and 28, while the decisive second legs will take place on May 4 and 5.
The Champions League final is scheduled for May 29 at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.
