“Not even Messi or Cristiano had these numbers at his age.” Pep Guardiola hails £54m putting up numbers that surpass the all time greats 🐐
According to the Norwegian attacker, this season has not been particularly fruitful for him on a personal level, since he has only scored 21 goals thus far.
His first goal since November 25 came during City’s victory over Everton last Saturday, when he scored both of their goals in the 2-0 victory. He scored his first goal since November 25.
In spite of the fact that Haaland wasn’t able to play for more than a month during that dry patch due to an injury, the fact that he went four games without scoring is surprising given his extremely high standards.
The statement was made by Guardiola prior to City’s Champions League match against FC Copenhagen on Tuesday night, which was broadcast live on talkSPORT. “It looks like I am complaining about Erling, but it was in general,” Guardiola remarked.
It is not a major concern if he does not score tonight, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or the following week.
“He is very powerful. This is a product of nature. Because he is so mentally resilient, he has handled everything brilliantly. Now that he has scored one goal, he is looking for a second and a third.
As he gets older, you can see his numbers. There was not even Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo who had comparable numbers at his age when they were competing in the Champions League.
When compared to Haaland, who has scored 40 goals in Europe’s greatest club competition, Ronaldo and Messi are a significant distance ahead of Haaland. Ronaldo and Messi have scored 140 goals and 129 strikes in the Champions League, respectively.
Nevertheless, Haaland is only 23 years old, so time is on his side, and the figures strongly imply that he has the potential to surpass the legendary players.
Messi had three less goals in the competition than Haaland had before he turned 24 in June 2011, when he had 37 goals in the competition. Ronaldo, on the other hand, had only 16 Champions League strikes to his record at the end of the 2008/09 season, when he had already turned 24.
It is not until July that Haaland will turn 24 years old; therefore, if City were to make it to the European final for the second time in a row, he would have plenty of opportunities to improve his already impressive average.
