Erling Haaland chasing new Cristiano Ronaldo’s record

Erling Haaland chasing Cristiano Ronaldo’s record as Eddie Howe’s Newcastle rotation backfires – Champions League hits and misses

Plus: Eddie Howe’s decision to rotate comes back to bite him as Newcastle are beaten by Borussia Dortmund as the German side recover from their Der Klassiker disappointment; Celtic dealt another harsh lesson in Europe with the Scottish side bottom of Group B after four games

After Erling Haaland twisted his ankle in Saturday’s thrashing of Bournemouth, there was scepticism about risking him against Young Boys ahead of a tough run starting with a trip to Chelsea on Sunday in the Premier League, live on Sky Sports.

But Haaland, who was second behind Lionel Messi at this year’s Ballon d’Or awards, is thinking of a much bigger picture when he applies the pressure on Pep Guardiola to let him play.

After finishing as the Champions League’s top scorer in two of the last three seasons, he knows just what is required to take home that prize. He didn’t want to miss the chance to add to his tally against one of the weaker teams in the competition.

Haaland didn’t waste his chance, either, scoring twice to take his total to 39 Champions League goals in 34 games. At just 23, he can already set his sights on Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 140.

The Norway striker needs 102 goals to surpass Ronaldo which, at his current rate, would take 89 more games. There’s a long way to go, but Haaland is on his way.

Eyebrows were raised when Eddie Howe named his Newcastle team for the 2-0 loss at Dortmund. Miguel Almiron and Anthony Gordon – two of the four attacking players available at his disposal – named on the bench had little sense to it.

Yes, the Magpies boss has to rotate his injury-hit squad at some point: Howe naming eight substitutes out of a possible nine shows how fragile this Newcastle team is depth-wise. But surely the game to rotate was not the Champions League group game where defeat leaves qualification out of your hands.

In rotating so heavily, Howe gave Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento their full Champions League debuts – and both Dortmund goals exploited this inexperience. Hall, booked after nine minutes, could only allow Marcel Sabitzer to drift by him and cross for Niclas Fullkrug’s opener.

And Livramento, who impressed going forwards, could not get close enough to Julian Brandt for the second on the break.

Bringing Almiron and Gordon on for the second half did improve Newcastle in Germany, but such improvement will leave the Magpies thinking ‘what if’. Howe’s attempts to conserve and rotate did not pay off this time.