He Manchester City premieres this Wednesday in the Champions League -against Inter Milan, repeating the final of two years ago- and Pep Guardiola clings to Erling Haaland for the English team to become European champions again. Last year they were eliminated by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals and, facing this new Champions League, City have a challenge which consists of having the best level of the Norwegian striker.
That’s why Guardiola wants Haaland to be at his best. After granting him “humanitarian leave” that the Norwegian ultimately did not take, the Spanish coach has set his striker a challenge at the start of the European Cup: he must lead the team in the competition. This is something he failed to do, for example, last year, when in the match against Real Madrid, Ancelotti’s team’s defenders stopped him at every moment.
The meeting before Inter Milan This could be very special for Haaland, because if he scores a goal he will reach a record number in football: 100 goals with Manchester City. He would become – if he scores this Wednesday – the footballer who will become in the shortest possible time the centenary scorer of a single club in Europe. would surpass Cristiano Ronaldo with Real Madrid.
Haaland has scored no less than nine goals in Manchester City’s last four games: two hat-tricks (against Ipswich Town and West Ham), one goal against Chelsea and two against Brentford. The numbers are spectacular, but Pep Guardiola’s demands are total. That’s why the Manchester City coach has put a stern warning to Haaland: score more goals.
First of all, surpass the aforementioned record of Cristiano Ronaldo with Real Madrid. The Portuguese reached 100 goals for the white team in 105 games. Erling Haaland has 99 goals in 103 gamesThat is to say, he has the last chance to surpass this record in the match against Inter Milan. If he does not score a goal in this Wednesday’s Champions League duel, he will no longer be able to surpass Cristiano and at most he will be able to equal him.
Guardiola’s challenge to Haaland
Joking further, Guardiola, who was surprised by Haaland’s goal scoring rate, recalled that he had scored 11 goals in his professional football career and that he had set his player an impossible challenge: “I played 11 years as a professional and scored 11 goals. This boy, in four games, has nine. “He can match that in a game.”.
“If you tell me that in the next 100 games he will score 99 goals, that’s fine with me. Don’t improve, don’t improve. If he scores 99 goals in the next 100 games, I’ll be more than happy,” Guardiola added, ironically warning Haaland that he would ask him continue at this pace in the rest of the season.
Manchester City face Inter Milan this Wednesday in the first of the new Champions League. This match was the final of the competition two years ago, when the English won the competition in a final played in Istanbul and prevailed with a goal of Rodri Hernandez.
