“It was good to score goals, I love the Champions League,” the Norway striker said after the final whistle.
“And when I saw Mbappe scored a hat-trick yesterday, I got free motivation. So, thanks to him. It was a nice evening.”
Haaland denied being in a “challenge” against the young World Cup winner, but added: “He scored some nice goals and I got a free boost from him, so it was nice.”
Whether or not Mbappe and Haaland will produce a rivalry to match Messi and Ronaldo’s remains to be seen – and would take some doing, given the numerous goalscoring and title-winning records held by the Argentina and Portugal captains – but the young forwards are certainly suggesting they can be the defining players of the next generation.
