The Norwegian striker scored five goals in less than an hour against Leipzig in the Champions League (7-0). His performance helped Manchester City qualify for the quarter-finals of the competition.
To those who doubted his ability to make Manchester City better, Erling Haaland offered a thunderous answer on Tuesday March 14 at home. As the victim, RB Leipzig, who were knocked out by the Norwegian striker in the Champions League Round of 16 second leg, at the Etihad Stadium. In fifty-eight minutes, Erling Haaland crushed the German club with five goals, and allowed his team to reach the quarter-finals without worry (7-0), just like Inter Milan, author of a draw on the FC Porto pitch (0-0).
In recent weeks, Erling Haaland has been the subject of a major question: is he really the ideal striker prototype for the game played by Pep Guardiola’s teams? His very pale copy returned to the first leg against Leipzig in Germany (1-1) thus came to support the ambient doubt. Funny situation surrounding a player who has scored 34 goals in 35 games this season before the return match on Tuesday evening.
Asked about the subject on Monday, in a pre-match press conference, Pep Guardiola confirmed that he expected more from his 22-year-old striker. “I don’t like a player just scoring goals in the box. It’s important, we need him for that. But outside the opposing area, we need him to be more active. When you look at him, he must be involved. He has made a little progress in this area, he can still do it.“
Haaland loves balls in the box
Tuesday evening, the Norwegian not only dismissed the doubts but offered a nice answer to his coach. In the first period, the “Cyborg” was available, often dropping out to participate in the game. In forty-five minutes, he touched 23 balls, one more than in the entire ninety minutes. of the first leg. But Haaland remains first and foremost a goalscorer,”who will not necessarily touch a lot of balls”, judged his teammate Riyad Mahrez a few weeks ago. “He’s here to finish”assured the Algerian winger of City.
Erling Haaland proved it once again against Leipzig. Since his arrival, he has undeniably brought something that Manchester City has lacked: the goalscoring instinct. As a good surface fox, the number 9 first converted a penalty (22nd), before scoring four goals against the Germans by being in the right place at the right time (24th, 45th + 2, 53rd, 58th), as if the Norwegian magnetized the balls in the opposing penalty area.
Guardiola does not want to rely only on him
“He’s an amazing goalscorer, he always tries to score and help the team. He’s the striker we needed“, admitted Ederson, the Cityzens goalkeeper, a few weeks ago. Now top scorer in the Champions League this season with ten goals, Erling Haaland now has 33 goals in 25 games in the competition. The Norwegian could even have register a sixth in this match without the stoppage of Janis Blaswich (11th), the goalkeeper of Leipzig who multiplied the interventions despite the rout of his team.
The festival ended on the hour mark when Pep Guardiola decided to take his prolific striker out of the field (63rd). The opportunity to breathe the striker, who is one of the most used outfield players at Manchester City this season. And to play Julian Alvarez, his understudy. “Erling has special qualities. In important matches, he can solve the problems that are encountered. But if we put everything on his shoulders, we will never win the Champions League“, recently explained the Spanish coach.
Goals from Ilkay Gundogan (49th) and Kevin de Bruyne (90th+2) proved that the Cityzens had other weapons. But Manchester City will still have a better chance of winning the most prestigious of European competitions with Erling Haaland on the pitch than without him.