IT turns out Erling Haaland was just toying with Dream Team gaffers.
Between Game Weeks 20 and 26, the Norwegian poacher trundled along at a relatively modest rate while Marcus Rashford (£6.7m) closed the gap at the top of the rankings.
At one point, it looked as if it was only a matter of time before Manchester United’s homegrown hero would ascend to the throne.
However, Manchester City’s No9 has responded with a frankly ridiculous 66 points across the last two Game Weeks to reassert his dominance.
This explosive burst started with a clutch penalty at Selhurst Park but he truly burst into life with FIVE goals past RB Leipzig in the Champions League.
Haaland was withdrawn just after the hour mark on Tuesday night having plundered 38 points at the expense of the Bundesliga club.
He then registered his sixth (yes, SIXTH) hat-trick of the season at home to Burnley on Saturday as Pep Guardiola’s side booked their place in the FA Cup semi-finals with a comfortable 6-0 victory over the Championship leaders.
The Norwegian poacher’s treble against the Clarets, again produced in just over an hour, resulted in a 23-point influx.
Suddenly, Haaland is 88 points clear of Rashford at the top of Dream Team’s rankings and the contest for individual supremacy once again looks to be a procession.
Having moved onto 344 points overall, he’s now odds-on to breach the 400-mark before the campaign’s end, something achieved only once before in Dream Team history.
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Cristiano Ronaldo became a quadruple centurion in 2007/08, the season that resulted in the first of his five Ballons d’Or, and while the likes of Mohamed Salah (£8.7m) and Harry Kane (£7.8m) have come close since, the Portuguese’s record tally has never truly been threatened.
With 42 goals in all competitions so far this term, Haaland has to be considered a phenomenon regardless but how close will he get to Ronaldo’s all-time record of 477 points?
He’s 133 adrift of that humongous tally at this stage meaning he needs to average approximately 10.2 points every Game Week from now until the end of the season.
To put that into perspective, he averages 9.6 points-per-game so far this term.
With Man City likely to make the FA Cup final and intent on Champions League glory, Haaland will have more fixtures at his disposal than most.
Whatever happens, the prolific 22-year-old’s debut Dream Team campaign will be remembered as one of the most spectacular introductions in the history of the game.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
