How can Manchester City striker Erling Haaland overtake Cristiano Ronaldo as the top scorer of 2023?

With 2023 drawing to a close, we will soon know the identity of the man who has scored the most goals across the calendar year. Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappé are out of the race by virtue of the fact they won’t play again until 2024, with both having found the net on 52 occasions. With just a few days to go, former Real Madrid icon Cristiano Ronaldo currently leads the way, but there is one man who could still catch, and indeed overtake, him - Erling Haaland of Manchester City.

How many goals have Ronaldo and Haaland scored in 2023?

On Tuesday, Ronaldo scored twice for Al Nassr against Karim Benzema’s Al Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League to move onto 53 goals, leapfrogging Kane and Mbappé. Haaland is three behind on 50, but still potentially has two Premier League games to play.

Will Haaland play for City against Everton and Sheffield United?

The spanner in the works for the Norwegian is that he hasn’t taken to the field since suffering a foot injury in the defeat to Aston Villa three weeks ago, making him a serious doubt for City’s visit to Everton on Wednesday 27 December and perhaps the home game against Sheffield United on Saturday 30 December.

Ronaldo is top of the charts and could very well have already wrapped up this particular accolade. And he still has one more opportunity to add his tally, with Al Nassr due to travel to Al Taawoun on Saturday, a game they could really do with winning as they look to close the seven-point gap to Al Hilal at the top of the table.

To summarise, Haaland has to outscore Ronaldo by four goals in their last games of the year to move ahead of him.

How many times has Ronaldo been top scorer in a calendar year?

It wouldn’t be the first time the Portugal captain has ended a year as the top scorer in world soccer. He has already achieved the feat on four separate occasions - in 2011 (60 goals), 2013 (63), 2014 (61) and 2015 (57).