Erling Haaland has become the 19th player to score 100 goals for Manchester City, taking just 105 matches to hit the landmark. The Norwegian striker reached triple figures with his ninth minute strike against Arsenal in Sunday’s Premier League clash. With it, Haaland also equalled the record of Cristiano Ronaldo of scoring the fastest 100 goals for any club. Haaland has now netted 10 times in just six appearances at the start of his third season at the Etihad Stadium. It’s the latest milestone for Haaland, after winning the Premier League Golden Boot in his first two campaigns in England.

He scored 52 goals in his first season with City – more than any Premier League player has ever managed in a single term.

The 24-year-old has started this season in ominous form netting 10 goals in City’s first five Premier League outings. In total, he now has 73 goals in the Premier League, 18 in the Champions League, eight in the FA Cup and one in the Carabao Cup since joining City. He is currently scoring at the average of more than one goal per game in the Premier League, having played in the competition 71 times.

That rate far outshines all of the division’s historic leading lights when it comes to scoring, including Alan Shearer, Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney, Andrew Cole and Sergio Aguero.

In total, he has 11 hat-tricks since joining City in 2022, with eight coming in the Premier League, two in the FA Cup and one in the Champions League.

Only Sergio Aguero (12), Alan Shearer (11) and Robbie Fowler (nine) have now scored more hat-tricks in the Premier League era than Haaland, with the current No.9 needing just 70 Premier League games to hit eight.

Haaland joins Kevin De Bruyne as members of Pep Guardiola’s current squad to have scored 100 times or more for City, with De Bruyne reaching the landmark in April and currently on 102. De Bruyne has struck up a close connection with Haaland, assisting the striker 20 times in total in the most fruitful partnership in England since the summer of 2022.

Aguero is the leading scorer in City’s history, with 260 strikes in 390 games during his 10 seasons at the Etihad.

Cristiano Ronaldo was diagnosed on Sunday with a viral infection and will miss Al Nassr’s Asian Champions League opener this week at Iraq’s Al Shorta. The Portuguese veteran is targeting Asia’s top club crown to add to his long list of achievements when the competition kicks off on Monday. “Al Nassr captain Cristiano Ronaldo was not feeling well today and was diagnosed with a viral infection,” said a club statement posted on social media platform X on Sunday.

“The team’s doctor confirmed he needs to rest and stay at home. As a result he will not be travelling with the team to Iraq today. We wish our captain a speedy recovery.”

The former Real Madrid and Manchester United forward saw his first attempt with the Saudi side Al Nassr end in a quarter-final penalty shootout defeat to eventual champions Al Ain earlier this year.

Now rebranded as the Asian Champions League Elite, Al Nassr and the other teams from Saudi Arabia will be a major threat after spending vast sums of money in the last two years on the likes of Ronaldo and Neymar.

England forward Ivan Toney was the latest big name to swap Europe for Saudi when he left Brentford for Al Ahli last month for more than $45 million.

As part of the new-look competition, Saudi Arabia — which is expected to host the 2034 World Cup — will stage a mini knockout tournament from the quarter-finals onward to decide the champions, who will take home at least $12 million.

Al Nassr, Al Ahli and Neymar’s Al Hilal will all be involved when the Champions League Elite launches on Monday with a new format that splits 24 teams evenly into two groups of East and West.

Each team will play eight different opponents in the group stage.

The top eight teams from each zone will play in the last 16 over two legs in March, before the action moves to the final stages in Saudi Arabia from April 25 to May 4.

– Injured Neymar missing –

Saudi champions Al Hilal are looking to win a record-extending fifth Asian title but they are still waiting for the return of Brazilian ace Neymar, who has been sidelined since suffering a serious knee injury last year.

Al Hilal have signed Portugal full-back Joao Cancelo from Manchester City, bolstering a squad that already featured Aleksandar Mitrovic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Ruben Neves.

Despite the absence of the 39-year-old Ronaldo for Monday’s opening encounter in Bagdad, Al Hilal are still able to call on Sadio Mane, Aymeric Laporte and Marcelo Brozovic.

The defending champions, Al Ain, are from the United Arab Emirates and were coached by Argentina great Hernan Crespo to victory against Japan’s Yokohama F-Marinos over two legs in May’s final.

Al Ain are one of two UAE clubs taking part in this year’s edition, with teams from Qatar, Iran, Uzbekistan and Iraq completing the West zone line-up.

In the East, clubs from Japan have posted the best results in recent years and Yokohama return to the Champions League to spearhead their challenge.

Coach Harry Kewell has been sacked since leading them to last season’s final, with the former Liverpool and Leeds forward paying the price for his team’s lacklustre domestic form.

Kawasaki Frontale and Vissel Kobe are also representing Japan, while three-time champions Pohang Steelers, twice winners Ulsan and debutants Gwangju will carry the flag for South Korea.

Chinese clubs’ spending power has long since dried up, but former Chelsea attacker Oscar is still on the books of Shanghai Port, who are led by Australian coach Kevin Muscat.

Shandong Taishan and Shanghai Shenhua are also involved from China, while one club each from Australia, Thailand and Malaysia feature in the East league stage.

Cristiano Ronaldo says Erik ten Hag’s attitude is too negative, urging the Manchester United manager to target the Premier League title even though the club need to “rebuild from the bottom”. The Portugal star, who now plays for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, fell out with Ten Hag before his second spell at Old Trafford ended late in 2022. Ronaldo believes his former club needs sweeping changes but that Ten Hag should not rule out winning major trophies in the meantime.

The Dutchman has said he is “quite confident” of claiming more silverware this campaign after lifting the League Cup and FA Cup over the past two seasons.

But he said in July his team are a “long way away” from being ready to win the Premier League, which they have not won since Alex Ferguson’s final season in charge in 2013.

“Manchester, they need to rebuild everything, in my opinion,” Ronaldo said in an episode of the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, due to be released on Thursday.

“The coach, they say they cannot compete to win the league and Champions League. Manchester United coach, you cannot say that you’re not going to fight to win the league or Champions League.

“You have to be, to mentally say, listen, maybe we don’t have that potential, but I cannot say that. We’re going to try. You have to try.”

United upset Manchester City in the FA Cup final in May but they endured their worst Premier League campaign last term, finishing eighth, and the 20-time English champions have lost two of their opening three matches this season.

“This club needs time to rebuild because it’s still one of the best clubs in the world, but they need to change,” Ronaldo said.

“They understand that. This is the only way. This is why they show, they start to change again, the structure of the club, the president, the infrastructures and everything. The owners of the club.”

– ‘Bright future’ –

British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe completed his purchase of a minority stake in the club in February and has since overseen major changes in the club hierarchy after taking control of football operations.

“I believe that the future will be bright,” said Ronaldo. “I believe, but they don’t depend only on the talents. It’s more than that. It’s all club, all, not only players, club, everything as a unit, united.

“They have to rebuild from the bottom. If not, they cannot compete. It will be impossible.”

Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo, who spent six seasons with United earlier in his career, scored 27 goals in 54 appearances during his second spell at Old Trafford after signing from Juventus in 2021.

Following his exit just over a year later, he claimed he felt “betrayed”, while saying of Ten Hag: “I don’t have respect for him because he doesn’t show respect for me.”

However, the 39-year-old said he still loves the club.

“I’m not happy the way it all happened but, in the same way, we cannot control some points of our life sometimes, but it’s done, already done,” he said.

“To prove that I’m right or wrong, this is not my issue any more. I say what I have to say and for me it’s done.”

He added: “I love that club. I’m not that kind of guy that forgot the past.”

File photo of Cristiano Ronaldo.© AFP