Erling Haaland has joined an exclusive club of just 13 players to receive a perfect 10/10 rating from French media outlet L’Equipe after his sensational performance against Manchester United.
The Manchester City star bagged a treble in Manchester City’s 6-3 derby demolition of United on Sunday and added a further two assists for teammate Phil Foden, who also scored a hat-trick in a devastating performance from Pep Guardiola’s side.
Not only has Haaland become the fastest player to score three Premier League hat-tricks – having also bagged triples against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest this season – but he has done so in just eight matches, six times faster than the previous holder Michael Owen (three hat-tricks in his first 48 league games).
Only 13 other players have been honoured with a perfect rating from L’Equipe, although Lionel Messi has been ranked with the accolade on two separate occasions. The French media outlet are known for their notoriously harsh ratings, with players required to perform close to perfection to be awarded 10.
Messi’s two 10/10 ratings came in arguably the most iconic performances of his career; netting five goals in the 7-1 Champions League victory for Barcelona over Bayer Leverkusen in 2012, having already been awarded the rating two years previously when scoring all four goals in a 4-1 triumph over Arsenal in the knockout stages of the same competition.
The first 10/10 ratings came for two players in the same match as France Under-23 stars Franck Sauzee and Bruno Martini were awarded the ratings for their performance in their side’s three-goal victory over Greece in the 1988 Euro Under-23 tournament.
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Incredibly, it was six years until the next rating was handed out – Russian striker Oleg Salenko’s five-goal haul in his nation’s 6-1 World Cup victory over Cameroon in 1994 attaining the rating. Three years later, goalkeeper Lars Windfeld for his outstanding performance for Danish club Aarhus against Nantes in the knockout stages of the UEFA Cup.
13 years passed until the next 10/10 rating was given to Messi, and in 2013 Robert Lewandowski joined the exclusive club thanks to his stunning performance in netting all four goals in Borussia Dortmund’s 4-1 Champions League semi-final first leg triumph over Real Madrid.
A year late, Brazilian midfielder Carlos Eduardo’s five goals for Nice against Guingamp in Ligue 1 earned him the rating and four years later, Neymar’s four goals and two assists in an 8-0 win for Paris Saint-Germain against Gijon saw him given a perfect score by the paper.
Three players earned the accolade across the 2019 calendar year in the Champions League: Ajax’s Dusan Tadic’s performance in their 4-1 win at Real Madrid, Lucas Moura for his stunning hat-trick for Tottenham to defeat Ajax in the semi-final and Serge Gnabry, for his four-goal haul in Bayern Munich’s 7-2 win at Spurs.
Kylian Mbappe joined the club in 2021 after his four-goal display in France’s eight-goal win over Kazakhstan and prior to Haaland’s showing, the most recent rating was given to Nantes goalkeeper Alban Lafont for his display in his side’s 3-1 win over PSG in Ligue 1 last February.
