Erling Haaland scored once again to spark Manchester City’s comeback against RB Leipzig, though Pep Guardiola was still unhappy with his as they reached the knockouts
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has reiterated his love of Erling Haaland after the striker broke his second record in three days.
On Saturday, Haaland became the fastest player to score 50 goals in the Premier League as City drew with Liverpool. Then on Tuesday he became the fastest to net 40 times in the Champions League after sparking a comeback against RB Leipzig in City’s penultimate group stage game.
The English champions had gone two goals down to the Bundesliga side before Haaland sparked them into life. City would go on to claim a 3-2 win over Leipzig to secure their place in the knockouts, with Guardiola jokingly hitting back at reporters who questioned him about Haaland.
“Again? I have to tell you again?. A thousand million times, I’m really impressed. They won today. Another record. Congratulations. He’s a fantastic player. I tell you many times, we’re really, really pleased,” the City boss said.
“We love him, not just for the goals he scores, but for many many other things. I was not sure [about City winning]. The way we played in the first half I was not sure. Not because we are City and the last Champions League winner.
“You can’t take it for granted, you have to earn it and do it. The first half was not [good] even some moments in the second half. There are moments you have to be better. We will learn hopefully.”
Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez added the other two goals to complete their comeback. The win ensured they claimed top spot in Group G having won all five of their games so far this campaign.
But Guardiola was still left unhappy with his side’s performance as they were forced to battle back. The Spaniard was pleased that his side had the character to eventually claim the three points though.
“If you talk about qualification, then it’s a great night. Fifteen [points] from 15. If you talk about the game, we could do better, sloppy goals. In football you have to win duels and it was quite similar against Chelsea. We were solid and now [not],” Guardiola added.
“We’ve had two warnings already. But it’s the same up front. We had chances and we miss it. Maybe for the future it’s good to win that way, not comfortably to realise and to look in the mirror and we have to do better.
“But we’re there in February, top of the group. I don’t know who we will face but the second leg will be here. We showed again we are able to make a comeback. We scored early in the second half and it’s a long 45 minutes for the opposition.”