Ever since Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi left European football, there appears to have been a thirst for making a similar rivalry between Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.
The Man City powerhouse and Paris Saint-Germain speedster are arguably the two best strikers on the continent now, firing their teams to glory week after week.
Whenever either take to the pitch, they’re that good that it always seems as though they’re going to score and the only question is how many.
Unfortunately for the pair, the Champions League quarter finals this season haven’t been kind to them.
Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe have scored a combined 6?9? goals across all competitions this season.
In the first leg of the #UCL quarter-finals, the pair registered just 1? shot on target between them ? pic.twitter.com/FBp9SUoRNq
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 10, 2024
According to TNT Sports, despite scoring 69 goals between them in all competitions across the 2023/24 campaign, they only managed one shot on target in their respective UCL matches against Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Some football watchers may claim that Haaland in particular is once again showing that he’s not the man for the big occasion, but that’s just clutching at straws.
It can’t be forgotten that he’s still a young man learning his trade and has a long way to go before he’s the finished article – and that’s a dangerous prospect for every other club.
Mbappe is expected to move to Los Blancos this summer and should that deal be signed off, it will be interesting to see how much match time he gets initially – given that he wants to play the Euros and the Olympics – before his sojourn to the Spanish capital.
Clearly both are going to have to do better on the biggest stage if they want to turn their respective European ties in favour of their clubs.
They’re more than capable of doing just that, but they must show from first until last in the very next European games – the returns against the Spanish pair – that they can do so.
If not, they’ll likely find themselves out of Europe.