Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is a mix of Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic," says Peter Schmeichel. The Norwegian star has excelled at the "Etihad Stadium" this season, the first for him in the Premier League, as yesterday he scored a historic "hat-trick" in the derby won 6-3 against Manchester United.
This treble took him to 17 goals for the 2022-2023 season. Of these, 14 of them were scored in the Premier League.
Records are mounting around the talented 22-year-old, with former United and City goalkeeper Schmeichel claiming Haaland has combined the qualities of two of the best footballers of the past 15 years.
Schmeichel told BBC Sport after watching the Norwegian take another ball home (as anyone who scores a hat-trick does) thanks to a remarkable run at City: "The biggest part of a good striker is patience. I've played against some of the best strikers and when they're missing you really have to focus on Cristiano Ronaldo, Filippo Inzaghi.
When you look at Haaland today, you see different players inside him. With the goals he scores, he is similar to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Cristiano Ronaldo as well. You see both of these top level strikers in a single footballer, namely Haaland. That's why he's so dangerous."
Haaland has become the first player in the history of the Premier League to record a hat-trick in three consecutive home games, while he has already recorded as many hat-tricks in the English league as Ronaldo, Jamie Vardy and Didier Drogba, despite playing only eight match.