Comparing Mbappe and Haaland’s numbers this season

As the Messi and Ronaldo era is slowly coming towards its conclusion, the next footballing battle looks like it could be between Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. 

With both players set to be in the middle of a summer transfer saga, we’ve compared their numbers from this season and evaluated their strengths and weaknesses.  

 

Shooting 

In the league so far this season, Haaland manages to trump Mbappe when it comes to a goal output. The Norwegian striker has scored 16 goals in just 14 appearances, compared to Mbappe’s 12 goals in 23 appearances.  

Context does need to be taken into consideration here though, Haaland has played all of his matches this season as an out-and-out striker who is the focal point of Borussia Dortmund’s attacking play. As this is the case, he has averaged 4.33 shots per 90 – only Leroy Sane and Robert Lewandowski have averaged more than this in the Bundesliga.  

Mbappe however, has played a large portion of his season out on the left-hand side, where he is able to cut inside and isolate defenders out wide. Mbappe has averaged 4.2 shots per 90 and in total, he has taken 91 shots this season – more than any other player in Ligue 1.  

So, when it comes to being clinical, Haaland is the clear winner here. The Borussia Dortmund striker has a 0.24 goals per shot ratio, compared to Mbappe’s 0.11 goals per shot ratio.  

The numbers are a little bit closer in the Champions League, although Haaland still manages to edge it with a 0.25 ratio compared to Mbappe’s 0.23. 

Haaland is also a greater aerial threat as he manages to win 1.9 aerial duels per 90, whereas Mbappe wins just 0.1 per 90.  

If we take a look at their xG from the league games they have played this season, this also paints an interesting picture of the two players. Haaland has outperformed his xG by 2.9 goals, which further highlights just how clinical he is.  

Mbappe on the other hand has underperformed his xG by 2.3 goals and he has missed 16 big chances in Ligue 1, more than any other player this season.  

Mbappe though has been more clinical in the Champions League, with him outperforming his xG by 0.6 goals, compared to Haaland’s overperformance of 0.2 goals. 

 

 

Creativity  

When it comes to creativity, the tables start to flip in Mbappe’s favour. The Frenchman has 13 assists in all competitions compared to Haaland’s five. Mbappe averaged 4.56 shot-creating actions per 90, whereas Haaland comes in with just 2.83.  

The PSG forward leads when it comes to key passes too, with Mbappe averaging 2.07 key passes per 90, compared with Haaland who comes in with 1.1 per 90.  

Mbappe also leads when it comes to pass completion as he has a pass completion rate of 82.1% compared to Haaland’s 69.9%.  

 

Dribbling 

Mbappe’s role in PSG’s set-up allows him to get on the ball more and run at defenders and so it will come as no surprise to learn that he is averaging more dribbles per 90 than Haaland. Mbappe has completed more successful dribbles than anyone else in the Champions League this season and in Ligue 1 he averages 3.09 successful dribbles per 90.  

While Haaland can’t quite compete with Mbappe’s dribbling numbers, with him only completing 0.71 successful dribbles per 90 in the Bundesliga, he actually has a better success rate.  

Haaland manages to complete 60% of the dribbles he attempts, whereas Mbappe comes in with a slightly lower dribble success rate of 55.8%. Although it does have to be taken into consideration that Haaland’s numbers are taken from a significantly smaller sample size in this area.