Champions League Top Scorer Predictions: Hot-shot Haaland can top the charts
The revamped Champions League features eight matches per club in the league phase, ensuring more opportunities for players to rack up goals in global football’s top club competition.
Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane shared top scorer honours last season with eight each and they feature prominently in the betting at 5/1 and 6/1.
But Manchester City’s Erling Haaland is the 3/1 market leader and will be aiming for something similar to the 2022-23 season when he topped the scoring charts with 12 goals and helped his club to lift the trophy for the first time in their history.
Haaland also headed the Champions League scoring charts in 2020-21 with 10 goals for Borussia Dortmund
Aside from Mbappe, Kane and Haaland, the only other former Champions League top scorer in the field is Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski, who was a Golden Boot and Champions League winner for Bayern Munich in 2019-20.
Erling Haaland to score most goals in the Champions League @ 3/1
Haaland first won the Champions League Golden Boot as a 20-year-old for Dortmund in 2020-21, but he has become an even better player over the last few years and looks a solid favourite to top the charts for the third time in his career.
Playing under Pep Guardiola has helped Haaland to take his game to new heights.
In Haaland’s first season for City he scored 36 league goals, breaking Andy Cole’s record of 34 for the most in a Premier League season.
He appears to be well on course to set a higher bar this season after netting nine times in City's opening four fixtures.
Scoring goals in the Champions League has been just as easy for the Norwegian, who has notched 41 times in 39 appearances.
There is no reason to expect a drop-off in performance and, if he stays fit and close to a one-goal-per-game strike rate, he will be very tough to stop.
Robert Lewandowski to score most goals in the Champions League E/W @ 16/1
Lewandowski is approaching the twilight of his career but he remains an outstanding player and could achieve more personal and team awards in 2024-25.
The 36-year-old Pole has had a fantastic career but his standout season was 2019-20 when he was a key part of the Bayern Munich side which won the Champions League, Bundesliga and DFB Pokal treble.
Lewandowski flourished under Hansi Flick during that memorable campaign and their working relationship was renewed earlier this year when Barcelona appointed Flick as their new head coach on a two-year contract.
Flick’s Barca are off to a flying start, winning their first five La Liga games with Lewandowski leading the charge with four goals.
Lewandowski won a La Liga title winner’s medal and the Pichichi, the trophy given to the league’s top scorer, for Barcelona in 2022-23.
He was less successful last season but he appears to have been re-energised by getting to work with his former coach and could be among the frontrunners in the race to be Champions League top scorer.
Ollie Watkins to win the Champions League Golden Boot E/W @ 70/1
Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins gets to play Champions League football for the first time this season at the age of 28 and he could make a big impression on the competition.
Watkins played a massive role in getting Villa into the Champions League by contributing 19 Premier League goals and 13 assists last season.
He warmed up for the competition in fine style with a double in Villa’s 3-2 win at home to Everton on Saturday.
Watkins was a late developer but he seems to be getting better each year and looks a tempting each-way 70-1 shot in the top scorer betting.
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