As the UEFA Champions League league phase approaches its final matchday, one statistic has quietly reshaped the narrative around Europe’s most exciting young attackers. While Lamine Yamal continues to confirm his generational talent on the biggest stage, a new and unexpected figure has surged past him in one of the competition’s most telling attacking metrics. In a season already rich with surprise storylines, the emergence of a Norwegian dribbler—now being whispered about as a “new Erling Haaland” archetype—has added an entirely new dimension to the Champions League’s creative hierarchy.
At first glance, it feels almost implausible. Yamal, still a teenager, has tormented elite defenses with fearlessness, balance, and imagination. Yet, with just one round remaining, he no longer sits atop the leaderboard for successful take-ons. Someone else does—and the numbers are impossible to ignore.
With one matchday left in the league phase, the Champions League’s dribbling rankings have taken an unexpected turn. According to data highlighted by Opta, Squawka, and DAZN, Jens Petter Hauge leads the entire competition with 26 successful dribbles, overtaking some of Europe’s most established wide attackers.
Hauge’s presence at the top of this list is not just a statistical curiosity—it is the culmination of a career arc that once seemed to stall. After bursting onto the European scene from Bodo/Glimt, earning a high-profile move to Italian giant Milan, and then drifting through loans and lost confidence, his story looked destined to become a familiar cautionary tale. Instead, this season has rewritten that script.
Back at his boyhood club, in their first-ever Champions League campaign, Hauge has rediscovered the freedom and audacity that once made scouts across Europe take notice. The dribbles are not cosmetic; they are purposeful, progressive, and often devastating. The 26-year-old has directly translated his dribbling into end product, with four goals in his last five Champions League starts.
The night Europe paid attention
Nothing crystallized Hauge’s renaissance more vividly than the unforgettable Champions League night against Manchester City. Facing one of the most expensively assembled squads in soccer history, his team tore up the expected script.
Jens Petter Hauge of FK Bodo/Glimt celebrates
After an electric start and a 2-0 lead, the decisive moment arrived midway through the second half. Collecting the ball on the left, Hauge slowed the tempo, invited pressure, and then exploded past his marker with a sudden burst that left even Ballon d’Or winners trailing shadows. The finish—a curling strike into the top corner—was the type of goal that lives in club folklore. That moment did more than seal a historic win. It announced, unmistakably, that Hauge belonged at this level.
How this reframes Lamine Yamal’s season
Being overtaken statistically does not diminish Yamal’s impact. If anything, it highlights how exceptional his Champions League campaign has been at such a young age. Sitting third overall with 21 successful dribbles, the Barcelona winger remains among Europe’s elite in one-on-one situations, despite facing double teams and tactical attention every week.
