Dortmund vs PSG, 2020: the first meeting
The two first shared a pitch in the Champions League round of 16 in February 2020. Haaland, six weeks into his Dortmund career, scored both goals in a 2-1 first-leg win at Signal Iduna Park, celebrating with the meditation pose that Neymar and the PSG squad would later mock. Mbappé set up Neymar's equaliser. In the return leg, played behind closed doors as the pandemic closed Europe, PSG won 2-0; Mbappé came off the bench after illness and Haaland was kept quiet. PSG went on to reach the final in Lisbon.
Manchester City vs Real Madrid: three ties in two seasons
The rivalry moved to the biggest stage when Mbappé joined Real Madrid. In the February 2025 knockout play-off first leg, Haaland scored twice at the Etihad — a 19th-minute volley that opened the scoring and an 80th-minute penalty — but Mbappé equalised on the hour and Real won 3-2 with a stoppage-time goal from Jude Bellingham. Haaland missed the second leg with a knee problem and watched Mbappé score a hat-trick in a 3-1 win at the Bernabéu. The sides met again in the 2025-26 league phase, when Mbappé was the absentee and Haaland scored from the spot in a 2-1 City win in Madrid, and once more in the 2025-26 round of 16, where Real won 3-0 at home without the injured Mbappé and then 2-1 at the Etihad with Mbappé returning as a substitute and Haaland scoring City's consolation.
Norway vs France at the 2026 World Cup
The first meeting between their national teams with both in the squad came on 26 June 2026 in the FIFA World Cup 2026 (Group I, matchday 3). France won 4-1 in Gillette Stadium ('Boston Stadium'), Foxborough, Massachusetts: Mbappé provided 2 assists, while Haaland was an unused substitute, rested with qualification already secured. Ousmane Dembélé's 32-minute first-half hat-trick (7', 20', 32'), the second-fastest in World Cup history, plus Désiré Doué's 90+4' header beat a second-string Norway, for whom Thelo Aasgaard scored (21'). France topped Group I, Norway finished second. The first-ever World Cup meeting between the nations. Referee: Michael Oliver.
What the head-to-head tells us
Haaland leads with 5 goals in direct meetings to Mbappé's 1, a gap of 4, yet Mbappé has the better team record (1 win for Haaland's sides to 3 for Mbappé's). That contrast captures the whole debate: Haaland tends to score against Mbappé's teams, and Mbappé's teams tend to win. Include the fixtures where only one of them played and the team record tilts further towards Mbappé (6 wins to 2), largely thanks to Real Madrid's two knockout ties over City.
Haaland leadsGoals in direct meetings: Haaland 5, Mbappé 1.
Mbappé leadsTeam wins in direct meetings: Haaland's side 1, Mbappé's side 3.
Compiled 2026-09-17 from Wikipedia, UEFA.com, ESPN, Sky Sports, Al Jazeera, CBS, FIFA.com and club sites (see sources-head-to-head.md). 'matches' contains only fixtures where BOTH players actually took the field. 'otherTeamMeetings' lists fixtures between their teams where one of the two did not play (unused sub, injured, or not in squad) — these are excluded from 'summary'. Minutes marked in the note as 'not independently confirmed' come from lineup/report sources that list the player as a starter with no substitution recorded. No Norway–France senior meeting took place between Haaland's 2019 debut and the 2026 World Cup (last previous meeting: friendly 27 May 2014). Man City and Real Madrid did not meet at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (City were eliminated by Al Hilal in the round of 16). Man City and Real Madrid were NOT drawn together in the 2026-27 UCL league phase (draw 27 Aug 2026), so no 2026-27 meeting exists as of today.
