Erling Haaland can one-up Kylian Mbappe by repeating Mahrez trick Guardiola has used at Man City

Cristiano Ronaldo might have made a decent case that he’s not done just yet on Saturday but the decade ahead in European football looks set to be defined by the fortunes of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.

Headline after headline will be dominated by the superstar forwards, who are each expected to complete defining transfers this summer.

Mbappe has been long admired by Real Madrid, who he looked set to dump out of the Champions League in midweek before Paris Saint-Germain’s penchant for self-destruction kicked in.

The prospect of Mbappe heading to the Spanish capital is one of the elements that has contributed to Manchester City being confident they are in pole position to snare Haaland from Borussia Dortmund during the forthcoming close season.

Haaland and Mbappe briefly looked set to meet in last season’s Champions League, with Dortmund ahead of City on away goals during the second half of their quarter-final at Signal Iduna Park.

But Riyad Mahrez had other ideas. The Algeria winger endured an interminable VAR delay before smashing home an emphatic penalty to set Pep Guardiola’s side on their way to a 2-1 win.

In the semi-final against Mbappe and PSG, Mahrez was even more decisive - squeezing a free-kick through the wall to seal a 2-1 triumph in the French capital before netting a goal in each half to crown a stunning 4-1 aggregate success back in Manchester.

“He is a player that I admire for the way he handles the pressure,” Guardiola said of Mahrez ahead of Monday’s Premier League trip to Crystal Palace.

“He likes to play on the biggest stages and it is difficult to find players like that in top clubs.”

Haaland would bring a virtual guarantee of goals to City, where that work is generally shared around.