Haaland vs Mbappé 2022/23 season stats

Haaland's 52: the biggest debut season in Premier League history

Haaland arrived at City for a €60m release clause and, aged 22, scored twice on his league debut at West Ham. By the end of August he had hat-tricks against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest four days apart; by October he had one in the Manchester derby, the first player to score hat-tricks in three successive home league games. His 36 league goals in 35 matches broke the Premier League single-season record of 34 with five games to spare and came with 8 assists, and the 52 across all competitions is the most by any player in a season for an English club in the Premier League era, two more than the previous best. 4 of his 6 hat-tricks were in the league, the rest a five-goal night against RB Leipzig and a treble at Burnley in the FA Cup. He was named PFA Players' Player of the Year, FWA Footballer of the Year, Premier League Player and Young Player of the Season, won the European Golden Shoe and UEFA Men's Player of the Year, and City won the treble, the second English club to do so.

Mbappé's 41, a fifth Golden Boot and a five-goal night

Mbappé, 23 when the season began, had a career-best 29 Ligue 1 goals in 34 games to win the Golden Boot for a fifth season running and a fourth Player of the Year award, as PSG held off Lens by a single point for their record 11th title. The 41 goals in 43 club games were the most of his PSG career to that point and included, in a 7-0 Coupe de France win at Pays de Cassel on 23 January 2023, the first five-goal game by a PSG player. In March he passed Edinson Cavani as the club's all-time leading scorer. But the campaign was shadowed by the summer contract saga's aftermath, by Christophe Galtier's struggling team and by the Champions League, where PSG lost both legs of the round of 16 to Bayern Munich and Mbappé, only just back from a thigh injury, did not score. His 7 European goals all came in the group stage.

Champions League: 12 goals and a winner's medal

Haaland's first Champions League season at City ended with the trophy and the top-scorer award, 12 goals in 11 games. 5 came in the group stage, including one against his old club Dortmund, and 7 in the knockouts: 5 in the 7-0 second leg against Leipzig on 14 March 2023, equalling the record for a Champions League match, then one in each leg of the quarter-final against Bayern, with a missed penalty in Munich. He did not score in the semi-final against Real Madrid or in the final against Inter, which City won 1-0 through Rodri's goal in Istanbul. Mbappé's 7 in 8 games put him level with Haaland after the group stage but PSG went no further than the round of 16 for a second straight year.

The World Cup inside the season

The 2022 World Cup was played in November and December, in the middle of this season, and it is where Mbappé's year peaked. He scored 8 goals in seven games in Qatar to win the Golden Boot, two in the group stage, one against Poland, one against England, and then a hat-trick in the final against Argentina on 18 December 2022, the first in a World Cup final since Geoff Hurst in 1966, including two goals in 97 seconds to drag France from 2-0 down. He also converted in the shoot-out, which France lost 4-2, and took the Silver Ball. Haaland, whose Norway had missed the tournament, spent the break training in Manchester; his 9 international goals of 2022 had come in the Nations League in June and September, five of them in four days in June.

The shooting numbers: volume against volume

Both played nearly the full league season, 2,803 Premier League minutes for Haaland and 2,835 in Ligue 1 for Mbappé, so the Understat rows are a fair like-for-like. Haaland's 36 goals came from 32.76 expected goals (+3.24), with all 7 league penalties scored and 44 big chances, the most of any season on this site, of which he converted 22 (50.0%). Mbappé's 29 came from 27.80 xG (+1.20) on more shots per 90 (4.80 to 4.00), with 3 of 4 penalties scored and a big-chance conversion of 35.3% (12 of 34). The difference between 36 and 29 league goals is almost entirely chance quality: Haaland's shots were worth 0.27 xG each, Mbappé's 0.19.

No meeting, and the first time City and PSG were on different paths

City and PSG were not drawn together in the Champions League, so 2022-23 was the third of four straight seasons without a Haaland v Mbappé match; City's semi-final was against Real Madrid, the club Mbappé would join a year later. Norway and France did not meet in Euro 2024 qualifying either. In the spring of 2023 Mbappé was made France captain and scored twice against the Netherlands in his first game with the armband, while Haaland scored in both of Norway's June qualifiers. All meetings between the two are on the head-to-head page; the international page has both careers year by year.