It has taken about six weeks for Erling Haaland to go from being compared to Darwin Nunez to being spoken about in the same breath as Lionel Messi.
There really has been no choice, with the Norwegian banging in goal after goal at a level that English football and even the Champions League has never seen. As Pep Guardiola said ahead of this game, his record is undeniably the best for his age.
City's manager has had the pleasure to coach one of the greatest in the game when he coaxed the best out of Lionel Messi over a decade ago, and you suspect that whatever Haaland achieves in the game Messi will always be No.1 for the boyhood Barcelona fan and player who saw his coaching career take off with the Argentine phenomenon at his right hand. As with anything involving Haaland though, be wary of making any cast-iron predictions.
