The year 2022 passed with many shocking events in world football. From Real Madrid’s breathtaking journey to the Champions League title to the Golden Ball for Karim Benzema. From Cristiano Ronaldo’s controversial separation from Manchester United to the emotional World Cup championship of Lionel Messi and the Argentina team.

Ronaldo, 37 years old, said goodbye to top football in Europe to move to Saudi Arabia to raise his family in Al Nassr, with an unbelievable salary of 200 million euros/year. As a consolation, although he no longer has the chance to win the European Champions League, the Portuguese superstar still has a chance to win the Asian Champions League. Messi, 35 years old, after a fulfilling world championship with his hometown, is definitely thinking about getting old. Right before the biggest football festival on the planet in Qatar, there was information that the Argentine superstar contacted Inter Miami, the MLS team co-owned by famous player David Beckham.

In short, the era of Messi and Ronaldo, after more than a decade of dominating football, has come to an end. The last 8X generation of these two superstars such as Benzema, Lewandowski, Luka Modric or Luis Suarez are also gradually receding into the golden age. From 2023, younger and more energetic stars will become the main characters in the top competitions of world football. The most prominent are of course Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.

The performance at the 2022 World Cup further confirms that Mbappe is the most outstanding talent in contemporary football. Meanwhile, from Dortmund to Man City, Haaland is still a phenomenal goal-scoring phenomenon. At the end of 2022, these two young stars lead the scoring list. Mbappe scored 56 goals in 56 matches for PSG and France. Haaland scored 46 goals in 43 matches for Dortmund, Man City and Norway.

Both will achieve a performance of 1 goal/match or more in 2022 and it is worth mentioning that as the end of the year approaches, the scoring performance of this duo is even more terrible. Up to now in the 2022/23 season, Mbappe has scored 20 goals in 22 matches for PSG on all fronts. In particular, at the 2022 World Cup finals, Mbappe won the top scorer with 8 goals. In addition, this striker also scored in both matches against Austria in the Nations League. As for Haaland, the Norwegian striker scored 27 goals in just 21 matches in all competitions for Man City in the second half of the year.

So, the question is whether Mbappe and Haaland can explode even more and break Messi’s record of scoring 91 goals in 2012?

2012 was not a successful year for Messi in terms of team titles. In the last year of Pep Guardiola’s reign at Camp Nou, the Argentine superstar won only one trophy. That is the Copa del Rey, a championship that cannot be as prestigious as La Liga or the Champions League. However, the Argentine superstar still won the 2012 Golden Ball title. Many opinions criticized Messi for being biased and unfair to other players, especially Franck Ribery, the star who won the championship with Bayern Munich. Champions League 2011/12.

However, now, 10 years later, when looking back at 2012, it is necessary to admit that Messi deserved to win the Golden Ball. Because in the year of Barca’s decline and coaching transition, La Pulga still created the most magnificent achievement in soccer history. That’s scoring 91 goals in a year, breaking the record of 85 goals in 1972 set by legendary goalscorer Gerd Muller.

Analyzing more deeply into Messi’s amazing achievements, he scored 91 goals in 69 matches for Barca and Argentina, which means an efficiency of up to 1.32 goals/match. In Los Blaugrana colors, La Pulga contributed 79 goals in 60 matches. In La Albiceleste, he scored 12 goals in just 9 matches. Another greatness of Messi that needs to be emphasized is that he does not only focus on scoring goals like Gerd Muller. At Barca or Argentina, “number 10” participates in every cycle of raising the ball, from distributing, initiating, breaking through, creating and then scoring. Statistics show that in 2012, Messi also made 22 assists and in La Liga and Champions League, successfully performed 184 dribbles.

Another aspect, in the year he scored 91 goals, Messi did not just break the record for scoring goals in a year. On March 7, 2012, in the morning after a poker (scored 4 goals) against Valencia, he scored a reporker (scored 5 goals) against Leverkusen, an achievement that is still unprecedented in the Champions League.

At the end of the 2011/12 season, Messi won the top scorer title for the fourth time with 14 goals, equaling the record set by Jose Altafini in the 1962/63 season. In La Liga, he scored 50 goals, also setting a new record. And in total in the 2011/12 season, Messi scored 73 goals, also breaking Gerd Muller’s record of 67 goals in a season. In addition, 2 weeks after the reporker against Leverkusen, Messi scored a hat-trick against Granada, thereby breaking Cesar Rodriguez’s 57-year record of 232 goals to become the player with the most goals in Barca history.

That amount of data is probably more than enough to convince why Messi won the Golden Ball. “I feel sorry for those who want to compete for Messi’s throne – it’s impossible, this boy is unique,” in those historic days that saw his student set one great record after another. In a big difference, Pep Guardiola had to say so.

Mbappe and Haaland have shown outstanding goalscoring qualities. If Mbappe is an all-round striker with incredible speed and skillful technique, then Haaland is a penalty area assassin, possessing a keen ear for the woodwork, outstanding form and abundant strength. However, breaking Messi’s record of 91 goals in 2012 is a huge challenge and can be considered one of the most difficult goals for both of them to conquer.

Analyzing further, to reach Messi’s record, both Mbappe and Haaland must first maintain a stable scoring performance throughout 2023, especially Ligue 1 and the Premier League. The national championship is the main playground for strikers to accumulate goals. In 2012, Messi scored 59 goals in 38 matches in La Liga, accounting for 65% of the total 91 goals.

It’s easy to see that in 2012, Messi did not miss any matches in the Spanish National Championship and scored 1.55 goals/match. Mbappe has not reached this performance in Ligue 1. Up to now, the star playing for PSG has only had 13 goals in 16 matches, which means the performance is less than 1 goal/match. Of course, when the 2022 World Cup has passed, Mbappe can devote all his focus to the club and is fully capable of improving his scoring performance. Haaland is more impressive. The Norwegian striker scored 21 goals in just 15 matches in the 2022/23 Premier League, which means an efficiency of 1.4 goals/match, approximately equal to Messi’s performance in La Liga in 2012.

Assuming Mbappe and Haaland achieve Messi’s performance and participate in all matches in the national championship in 2023, this duo is estimated to reach about 60 goals. So it is considered that the necessary condition is met, but it is still 30 goals away from Messi’s record, which can be considered a sufficient condition. The qualifying conditions here come mainly from the Champions League and the national team. In 2012, La Pulga scored 13 goals in the Champions League and 12 goals for Argentina, a total of 25 goals.

As for Mbappe and Haaland, both strikers have performed well in the Champions League and the national team. Mbappe scored 34 goals in 50 matches in the Champions League and 36 goals in 66 matches for France. Haaland is more impressive, scoring 32 goals in just 29 matches in the Champions League and 21 goals in 23 matches for Norway. Another advantage for Haaland is that the English football system has two domestic cups: the League Cup and the FA Cup. Therefore, if Man City advances far in domestic cups, Haaland also has many opportunities to improve his scoring performance.

In addition, the Norwegian striker did not participate in the World Cup, so he has a more robust physical foundation than Mbappe or all the players who have to fight in Qatar. That is also a significant advantage for Haaland to unleash his strength in the second phase of the 2022/23 season, especially in the context that he is increasingly compatible with his teammates at Man City.

Thus, to summarize, Haaland has many advantages over Mbappe to break through in the goalscoring race in 2023. However, to reach Messi’s record of 91 goals, the Norwegian striker still needs to Improve scoring performance. When talking about Haaland, people think that Haaland is talking about goals. When talking about Haaland on the field, no one asks if this striker scored or not, but how many goals this striker scored, but from the comparison just mentioned, we see that Messi is as terrible as he is. how!