Erling Haaland Shatters Champions League Record with Lightning-Fast Historic Achievement

Erling Haaland shattered yet another Champions League milestone on Thursday night as he found the net in Manchester City's 2–0 triumph against Napoli.

Giovanni Di Lorenzo's early dismissal for Napoli made it a comfortable evening for City, with Jérémy Doku's brilliant individual strike complementing a perfectly executed header from their Norwegian goal machine following the interval.

This marked Haaland's 12th strike of the campaign across all competitions, with his goal against Napoli following up on a deadly double in the weekend's 3–0 demolition of Manchester United.

The 25-year-old couldn't manage a second goal this time around but still etched his name in the record books by becoming the fastest player to net 50 Champions League goals. He achieved this milestone in merely 49 appearances in the tournament, obliterating the existing benchmark.

Former Manchester United and Real Madrid forward Ruud van Nistelrooy previously held this distinction, reaching the remarkable milestone in 62 games.

Haaland netted eight Champions League goals during his time at RB Salzburg and added another 15 while at Borussia Dortmund, with Thursday's strike being his 27th in the competition since arriving at City. Interestingly, it was just his fifth header, with 11 right-footed finishes and 34 left-footed efforts comprising his total.

City's striker now sits alongside Arsenal icon Thierry Henry on the all-time Champions League scoring charts, and trails Van Nistelrooy by just six goals. He has already overtaken players like Andriy Shevchenko and Zlatan Ibrahimović.

Haaland will have an opportunity to surpass Henry in the standings when City visit Monaco for their upcoming Champions League fixture on October 1.