Erling Haaland will be aiming to earn a slice of Champions League history when Manchester City lock horns with Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu for the second leg of their playoff tie on Wednesday night.
The Norwegian is Man City's leading scorer across all competitions so far this season with 27 goals in 35 appearances, including eight strikes in nine Champions League outings.
Haaland has moved into the top 10 Champions League goalscorers of all time after netting a brace in the Citizens' 3-2 home defeat to Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid in the first leg last week.
City's No.9 twice gave Pep Guardiola's side the lead against the 15-time European champions, firstly finishing off a slick team move for the opener before powering home from the penalty spot to make it 2-1 with 10 minutes remaining.
However, another late collapse ultimately saw Man City throw away their one-goal advantage, but there was still a notable individual achievement for Haaland to salvage from a painful night at the Etihad Stadium.
Haaland has now scored a remarkable 49 goals in just 48 Champions League appearances, drawing him level with Real Madrid icon Alfredo Di Stefano on the all-time list, and the Scandinavian striker can etch his name into the history books once again if he makes the net ripple on Wednesday night.
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Haaland out to break Messi, Van Nistelrooy CL records
Indeed, at the age of 24 years and 213 days, Haaland is just one goal away from becoming both the fastest player and youngest player in Champions League history to score 50 goals in the competition.
The current record-holder for the youngest player to reach 50 goals is none other than eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi, who reached half a century of Champions League goals at the age of 24 years and 284 days.
Meanwhile, former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy holds the record for the fewest games to reach 50 UCL goals, doing so in 62 matches.
Haaland needs to score just one goal in his next 13 Champions League appearances to beat Van Nistelrooy's record, something which could be achieved next season even if Man City were to be knocked out by Real Madrid on Wednesday.
However, City's No.9 will need to either score in Wednesday's second leg or hope that the Citizens progress to the last 16 where he can get a second bite of the cherry if he wishes to surpass Messi as the youngest player to reach the 50-goal mark.
Haaland, who already boasts the record for being the quickest player to reach 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 goals in Champions League history, is expected to start in the second leg as he was pictured in team training on Tuesday after shaking off a minor knee issue picked up in City's 4-0 Premier League win over Newcastle United last weekend.
Oliver Thomas
