On the opening day of the Champions League group stage, the stars are out—and that especially means generational stars Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland.
Mbappé didn’t have to wait long to open his goalscoring account for this year’s Champions League campaign, scoring in the fifth minute on a highlight-reel goal that will be watched just as much for his technique as for Neymar’s assist.
At the edge of the penalty area, Neymar took a pass from Mbappé before looping the ball up and over the idle Juventus defense with a beautiful scoop that the French star lashed at with a one-time strike for the early lead.
Less than 20 minutes later, Mbappe had his second goal of the game with another one-time finish. The 23-year-old star connected with Achraf Hakimi for a quick one-two as he became the youngest player to 35 Champions League goals—taking a record previously held by his current teammate, Lionel Messi.
The PSG star is off to a scintillating start to the season with nine goals in six games for the French champion. The pair of goals also come during a week full of headlines for Mbappé, who on Monday backed Paul Pogba’s side of a witchcraft and extortion story before being criticized on Tuesday for laughing off PSG’s private jet use when asked about its environmental sustainability.
Meanwhile, Haaland continued his fast start to the season for Manchester City with his 11th and 12th goals in seven games. In the 20th minute of City’s match against Sevilla, Kevin De Bruyne whipped a sharp cross to the back post where Haaland reached out his leg and directed the ball into the net for the lead.
With City leading 2–0 after Phil Foden scored, Haaland ensured he joined Mbappé with a double as well, netting his second of the day in the 67th minute after pouncing on the rebound of a saved shot to give City a three-goal edge.
The 22-year-old Norwegian now has 25 goals in 20 Champions League games in his young career (breaking Mbappé’s record as the fastest to that milestone by 33 days) while Haaland has now scored in his first Champions League game with three different sides (RB Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund, Man City). More importantly, it means this season having all the makings of a Golden Boot race between him and Mbappé. So far, it’s 2–2.
