Rio Ferdinand has now given his two cents on whether he thinks Erling Haaland or Vinicius Junior is superior.
It is fair to suggest that as players, Haaland and Vinicius are quite different.
The Manchester City number nine is an out-and-out goalscorer while the Brazilian international is as complete a winger as one could find in world football.
Erling Haaland is primarily judged on how many goals he scores in a season while Vinicius Junior’s game is assessed on his dribbling, chance creation and overall involvement in a game.
On Tuesday, as Manchester City face Real Madrid, both superstars will be determined to win the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final for their teams.
What can be agreed upon is the pair are outstanding players and up there with some of the very best the game has to offer.
Rio Ferdinand shares who is better: Erling Haaland or Vinicius Junior
Much like Vinicius Junior last season, Erling Haaland will also be willing to open the scoring for the visitors in the first leg.
Scoring first at a stadium like the Santiago Bernabeu is always the dream start for any visiting team.
Even if they possess the quality that Pep Guardiola’s men, who enter the last eight of the competition as the reigning European champions.
Both teams’ defences would likely have drawn up plans to find a way to stop Erling Haaland and Vinicius Junior.
If forwards who can demolish a backline in world football had to be named, these two names would be one of the first to be taken.
Such is the quality that the Sky Blues and Los Blancos megastars have in their lockers.
Now, Rio Ferdinand has told TNT Sports whether Erling Haaland or Vinicius Junior is better.
“If it was goals, I would go [Erling] Haaland but as a player, I would go, Vinicius Junior”, he said.
Haaland should be viewed as superior to the Real Madrid man
In our view, while Rio Ferdinand perhaps has a point about Vinicius Junior being a more well-rounded player, Erling Haaland provides far too much value to be viewed as inferior to him.
Goals are the ultimate currency in football and Haaland has mastered the most important facet of the sport in a way that not many forwards have on the globe, including the Los Merengues wideman.
Elite wingers like Vinicius Junior have come and gone, as special as he is but goalscorers like Erling Haaland are rare in the beautiful game.
As a result, Haaland should be viewed as the superior forward out of the two.