MANCHESTER: Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe are all scoring at better than a goal-a-game rates in a blistering start to the season from Europe’s top three marksmen.
Ahead of their return to Champions League action this week, the trio are already battling at the top of the charts to be the competition’s top scorer and making the early running in a World Cup campaign for next year’s Ballon d’Or.
Haaland leads the way with 23 goals in 13 games to haul City back into contention for the Premier League and Norway to the brink of their first World Cup since 1998.
Only once has Haaland failed to find the net this season and he arrives for City’s league-phase match at Villarreal on Tuesday having scored 10 goals in his last five matches with City and Norway.
The 25-year-old scored twice against Everton on Saturday to take his Premier League tally for the campaign to 11. Haaland now boasts the three quickest occasions any Premier League player has reached 10 goals in a season after doing so in six matches in 2022 and five games last season.
The fastest player to 50 goals in the Champions League, Haaland also scored twice when City drew 2-2 at Monaco in the Champions League earlier this month. City had opened with a 1-0 win against Napoli.
Previously he has been questioned in his homeland for not reproducing his prolific club form for Norway. Those complaints have been washed away as Haaland has struck 12 times in six qualifiers to finally take a golden generation towards his first major international tournament.
Kane headed in his 22nd goal of the season to put Bayern on course for victory in Der Klassiker against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
The England captain has three goals in as many games for his country as the Three Lions became the first European team to qualify for the World Cup with a flawless qualifying record through six matches.
Kane has racked up incredible numbers since swapping his homeland for Bayern in 2023, even if it took until his second season to end a long wait to win a trophy.
The 32-year-old has 104 goals in 107 games for the German giants, including 19 in 11 at club level this season.
Bayern already look set to defend their Bundesliga title, making a first ever Champions League crown for Kane even more of a priority.
He has scored four times in wins over Chelsea and Pafos to begin their quest for European glory and will expect more when Club Brugge visit Bavaria on Wednesday.
Mbappe’s frustrating first few months following his dream move from Paris St Germain last year are now long forgotten in the Spanish capital.
The Frenchman racked up 44 goals in 59 games across all competitions last season and adapted to playing as the central striker in Carlo Ancelotti’s system.
Xabi Alonso has maintained Mbappe’s position and the 26-year-old has been Real’s key player during the opening weeks of the season.
Lightning quick, slick on the ball and capable of finishing lethally from outside the area, Mbappe has 15 goals in 11 matches between La Liga and the Champions League.
He is the Spanish top flight’s leading goalscorer with 10, while netting five goals in just two Champions League appearances. Mbappe has also netted three times for France this season in three appearances.
He has scored nine goals in his last six games, including the winner in Real’s 1-0 win at Getafe in La Liga on Saturday.
Real, who also started the league phase with two victories, host Juventus on Wednesday. The Italians are coming off two draws in the Champions League, against Borussia Dortmund and at Villarreal. Juventus lost 2-0 at Como in Serie A on Sunday.
DEMBELE RETURNS
Six teams have started with victories in the first two rounds, including surprising Qarabag from Azerbaijan, who will go for three in a row when they visit winless Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday. Qarabag had never won in the competition proper before.
Among the others with two wins are defending champion PSG, who visit Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday. Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele looks set to make his comeback for PSG after a six-week injury layoff.
Leverkusen centre-back Loic Bade, Dembele’s teammate in the France squad, told reporters on Monday there was “no secret recipe” to stopping the PSG forward, calling him “a complete player with several qualities”.
Arsenal will try to extend their perfect start when they host Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.
Inter Milan, runners-up to PSG in last season’s final, visit Belgium’s Union Saint-Gilloise on Tuesday.
Liverpool, enduring a four-game losing streak that includes a home defeat against Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday, will try to rebound in the Champions League when they visit Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday.
Among Liverpool’s recent setbacks was a loss at Galatasaray in their second league-phase match.
Barcelona are another team looking to make up some lost ground in the Champions League after a home defeat against PSG in the previous round. They host Olympiakos Piraeus at Montjuic stadium on Tuesday.
Chelsea, who also picked up only one league-phase win so far, host winless Ajax Amsterdam on Wednesday.
Another winless team, Jose Mourinho’s Benfica, visit Newcastle United on Tuesday.
Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2025
