BritishCoach Pep Guardiola jokingly felt tired of constantly having to praise Erling Haaland, after the Norwegian striker opened fire in the 3-2 win over RB Leipzig and set another record in the Champions League.
Last weekend, Haaland opened fire in a 1-1 draw with Liverpool to break the record for fastest 50 goals in the Premier League, with only 48 matches. The old record belonged to former striker Andy Cole with 65 matches.
In yesterday's match against RB Leipzig, Haaland continued to contribute a goal to break the record for being the player who needed the fewest matches to reach 40 goals in the Champions League, with only 35 matches. Behind the Norwegian striker is Ruud van Nistelrooy with 45 matches and Kylian Mbappe with 59 matches. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski both needed 61 matches to score 40 goals in Europe's most prestigious club-level arena.
“Again? Do I have to tell you again?", Guardiola made a bored gesture, then laughed and said at the press conference after the win over RB Leipzig when asked about Haaland's latest record. “A thousand million times, I'm really impressed. Another record. Congratulations. Haaland is a great player. We love Haaland, not only because of his goals but also because of many other things."
Guardiola in Man City's victory over RB Leipzig at Etihad Stadium in round five of Group G Champions League at Etihad Stadium on November 28. Image: mancity.com
At Etihad Stadium yesterday, RB Leipzig surprised everyone by leading 2-0 thanks to striker Lois Openda's double in the first half. Man City is two goals behind for the first time in the Champions League since 2018.
But Haaland's goal in the 54th minute opened the comeback for the home team. In the 70th and 87th minutes, respectively, Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez scored to help Man City win for the first time when they were two goals down at half-time in the Champions League, after going through the same situation six times and failing.
The 3-2 result helped Man City become the second team to secure top position in the Champions League this season, after Bayern in Group A also with a winning record. Guardiola was pleased that Man City soon won a ticket to the 1/8 round at the top, but saw the poor start against RB Leipzig as a wake-up call for the next difficult journey.
“If we talk about tickets to continue with first place, this is a great night. We won 15 absolute points,” the Spanish coach said. “And if we talk about the match, we have to do a much better job of conceding sloppy goals. In soccer, you have to win duels and kick solidly. We already have two warnings. Same thing with the strikers, when we had many chances but missed them. Maybe in the future, winning this way is a good thing. We felt uncomfortable and realized we had to do better."
On December 3, Man City continued to play at Etihad's home field against Tottenham in round 12 of the Premier League.
Hong Duy
