Sébastien Haller has reached an extraordinary milestone. The Ajax striker scored for the seventh game in a row in the Champions League, with which he has managed to find the net in every match of the current tournament edition. Only Cristiano Ronaldo managed to do the same before, in the 2017/18 season. Haller comes through the goal on a total of eleven hits, taking further distance from number two Robert Lewandowski, who is on nine.
After Haller unhappily took care of Benfica’s 1-1 with his foot in Lisbon, the Ivorian made up for his ‘mistake’ by tapping in the 1-2 – albeit in the second instance. Haller was also accurate in all group matches against Borussia Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon and Besiktas. It is striking that Haller did not have a single duel in the billion-dollar ball to his name before this season.
NOW FOR A GOOD PURPOSE! † With his eleventh goal in his seventh Champions League match in a row, Haller puts Ajax ahead again in Estádio da Luz ??#ZiggoSport #UCL #BENAJA pic.twitter.com/LAvgDCHDDc
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) February 23, 2022
The only player in Champions League history to score in all matches in the group stage and the first round of the knockout stage, like Haller, was Ronaldo. The current Manchester United attacker managed to score against APOEL Nicosia, Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham Hotspur in the 2017/18 season on behalf of Real Madrid. After the group stage, Ronaldo had nine goals. Haller did slightly better in that respect: the Ajax player already had ten in it after the sixth game.
Lewandowski appears to be Haller’s biggest competitor in the battle for the top goalscorer title. The Pole was on nine goals after the group stage, but was unable to score in the first eighth final against RB Salzburg (1-1) last week. Mohamed Salah completes the top three: the Egyptian is on eight hits.
Top scorers Champions League season 2021/22
| NAME | GOALS | MATCHES | GOALS PER 90 MIN | MINUTES PER GOAL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastien Haller | 11 | 7 | 1.71 | 53 |
| 2 | Robert Lewandowski | 9 | 7 | 1.34 | 67 |
| 3 | Mohamed Salah | 8 | 7 | 1.30 | 69 |
| 4 | Christopher Nkunku | 7 | 6 | 1.19 | 76 |
| 5 | Riyadh Mahrezi | 6 | 7 | 0.89 | 102 |
| 6 | Cristiano Ronaldo | 6 | 6 | 1.04 | 87 |
| 7 | Kylian Mbappe | 5 | 7 | 0.77 | 117 |
| 8 | Leroy Sané | 5 | 7 | 0.76 | 118 |
| 9 | Karim Benzema | 5 | 6 | 0.86 | 105 |
| 10 | Lionel Messi | 5 | 6 | 0.83 | 108 |