da luck： The Norwegian is scoring goals for fun at Manchester City, but he is still a long way off the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner's best campaign
da aposte e ganhe： Erling Haaland is a phenomenon. No one can dispute that. Manchester City knew they were getting a top striker when they paid Borussia Dortmund £51 million to sign the Norwegian last summer, but they would never have guessed he would be quite this prolific.
Haaland grabbed his 50th goal in all competitions for City against Fulham on Sunday. It was his 34th in the Premier League – which saw him equal the all-time single season record set by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer.
City's terminator will no doubt get a few more before the season is over, with Pep Guardiola's side still in the hunt for a treble, but he is unlikely to get close to the all-time record for most goals scored across all competitions in a single campaign in one of Europe's major leagues.
That honour is still held by a certain Lionel Messi, who bagged 73 goals for Barcelona during their 2011-12 season.
Guardiola was managing Barca at the time, and had a simple message for the football world as it tried to make sense of what Messi was doing.
“Don't write about him, don't try to describe him. Watch him," he enthused.
Messi's individual exploits that year will never be eclipsed, and his record is even more remarkable due to the fact he was playing in a disjointed Barca side coming towards the end of an era.
Haaland deserves all the praise he is getting in Manchester, but Messi was on another planet.
GOAL looks back on the Argentine magician's greatest campaign…
GettyBreaking down the numbers
Messi managed to bring up 73 goals in just 60 appearances, with 62 of those efforts coming with his stronger left foot.
He scored eight with his right and three headers completed his record-setting haul as he spent a grand total of 5,221 minutes on the pitch.
The Argentina international averaged a goal every 71.5 minutes for Barca, and 53 of those were recorded in open play.
Messi converted 14 penalties and also found the net with three free-kicks. His remaining four goals were a result of him getting on the end of set-pieces.
AdvertisementGettySublime Supercopa start
Messi got off the mark in the very first game of the season, in the first leg of Barcelona's Supercopa de Espana clash with arch-rivals Real Madrid.
After shaking off Pepe to get himself in the box, Messi rolled the ball under Iker Casillas to give Barca a 2-1 lead at Santiago Bernabeu.
Madrid fought back to earn a 2-2 draw, but there were more fireworks in the second leg.
Messi scored twice as Barca clinched the trophy with a 3-2 victory at Camp Nou. His first was a trademark dinked finish and he settled the tie with a thunderous first-time volley three minutes from time.
It was a sign of things to come.
GettyTerrorising Atletico
Barcelona laid down an early marker in La Liga's title race by thrashing Villarreal 5-0 and humiliating Osasuna 8-0 at Camp Nou.
Messi scored the first of his nine hat-tricks that season in the latter, and grabbed his second treble when Atletico Madrid arrived in Catalunya at the end of September.
With Barca already 2-0 up, Messi took center stage, increasing their advantage with an incredible solo goal just before the interval that saw him slalom past four Atletico defenders before stroking the ball home at the near post.
He made it 4-0 after another dizzying run and nutmegged Thibaut Courtois to complete his hat-trick in the 90th minute and round off a night to forget for the Atletico goalkeeper.
GettyFour touches ruin Racing defence
By the time Racing Santander arrived at Camp Nou in October, Messi was already up to 14 goals for the season.
Barca ran out comfortable 3-0 winners on the night and Messi opened the scoring with a goal that epitomised his genius.
Andres Iniesta received the ball on the far side of the box before laying it off to an on-rushing Messi, whose first touch took four defenders out of the game.
He then took another to set himself before steering the ball around the Racing keeper and tapping into an empty net.
Four sublime touches that you might have missed if you'd blinked, and Barca were on their way to another victory.