Teenager Erling Haaland Creates Champions League History, Eclipses PSG Stars

Erling Braut Haaland broke multiple records as he struck twice in Borussia Dortmund's 2-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.

Haaland scored his 10th Champions League goal when he scored his second on Saturday and he did so in just seven appearances, becoming the fastest to 10 Champions League goals in the competition's history.

On top of that, Haaland has taken four games lesser than any other player in the history of Champions League to reach the figure.

Haaland was signed by Dortmund in the January transfer window from Salzburg. For his previous club, Haaland had made Champions League history too.

He made his Champions League debut for Salzburg with a hat-trick against Genk on September 17 and thus, became the first teenager to score more than once on his maiden appearance in the competition since Wayne Rooney in 2004.

He then scored a goal against Liverpool and two against Napoli in the first leg to get a record haul from just four games for a teenager in a single Champions League campaign. The previous record was six, set by Raul and Kylian Mbappe.

Haaland, aged 19 years and 212 days, became the second youngest player after Mbappe, to score 10 Champions League goals.

He is also the first Dortmund player ever to score on his Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League debut.

Watch his stunning second goal against PSG.

Dortmund players were full of praise for their team-mate, who came to prominence by scoring nine times for Norway in one game at last year's Under-20 World Cup.

"He still has huge room for improvement but he is on the road to becoming a truly great player," Axel Witsel told French broadcaster RMC Sport.

Emre Can told BT Sport: "Of course he's a great footballer. He's also a great guy. He's a little bit crazy I think, funny and hopefully he will continue like that."

Haaland's eight goals in the group stage were not enough for Salzburg to qualify for the last 16, but they helped him earn his 20 million-euro move to Dortmund in the winter window.

After 28 goals in 22 games altogether for Salzburg, that fee already looked like a bargain, but his statistics have been even more jaw-dropping since he became part of Lucien Favre's side.

Scorer of a hat-trick off the bench against Augsburg on his Bundesliga debut, the Leeds-born player now has 11 goals in just seven outings for his new club.

It is a phenomenal record, and his presence -- along with that of Jadon Sancho -- helped persuade PSG coach Thomas Tuchel to abandon the 4-4-2 formation he had settled on in recent months in order to play with three central defenders.

Haaland still managed to be the star of the show despite coming directly up against Silva, Marquinhos and Presnel Kimpembe. At the other end, Neymar and Mbappe were kept quiet for most of the night, as was Angel Di Maria.

For 21-year-old Mbappe, the risk must be that Haaland is threatening to make him yesterday's news.

Mbappe's tally of 19 goals in the Champions League is a record for a player before his 21st birthday.

Haaland is already into double figures and will not be 21 until July next year. Mbappe was seven months younger than Haaland is now when he made it to double figures, but the latter's current strike rate is frightening.

(With AFP inputs)