In the Zone: Mbappé and Haaland set for long-term rivalry

The goalscoring records set by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the UEFA Champions League appeared insurmountable not so long ago. Now, two of the next generation of stars gracing the competition are being touted to eclipse their achievements in the long term.

In our FedEx Performance Zone stats dive, we take a look at the Matchday 1 performances of the two hottest prospects in European football – Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland – as their relentless appetite for goals continues to help them rise up the all-time scoring charts.

There was little to choose in the statistics between 23-year-old Paris striker Mbappé, whose goals came in a 2-1 home win against Juventus, and 22-year-old Manchester City forward Haaland, who struck twice in their 4-0 success at Sevilla.

Both scored twice (30 points), each had three shots on target (15 points) and the pair also traded three shots off target (six points) while passing up a big chance apiece (minus two points).

The sole difference in their Performance Zone scores came courtesy of Mbappé's 85% passing accuracy (five points). Only Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski scored more points (77) than the Paris marksman on Matchday 1, with Haaland in fourth place in the rankings.

Those performances were accompanied by more records for the prolific pair. At 23 years and 260 days, Mbappé became the youngest player to reach 35 Champions League goals – surpassing Messi by 47 days and Ronaldo by more than three years.

Haaland, meanwhile, has taken just 20 appearances to score 25 Champions League goals, eclipsing Ruud van Nistelrooy's previous best of 30 games. The Norwegian also became the youngest to reach that tally – surpassing Mbappé by 33 days.

Expect Mbappé and Haaland to tick further firsts off the list – and take records off each other – as their careers and goalscoring rivalry continues in the future.