Pep Guardiola expresses ‘concern’ for Erling Haaland despite Champions League brace

Pep Guardiola sarcastically expressed “concern” for Erling Haaland after Manchester City’s 3-1 Champions League win over Young Boys.

City maintained their perfect Champions League record this season with a hard-fought win against the Belgian side, courtesy of a timely Haaland brace.

The goals were Haaland’s first in the Champions League in six games, with the first coming from the penalty spot and the second expertly curled into the corner four minutes later.

While the Norwegian has scored 11 goals in 14 games so far this season, Haaland has received criticism from certain quarters for missing a collection of chances.

And after Wednesday night’s encounter, City boss Guardiola mockingly expressed “concern” for Haaland for only netting twice,

When asked if he was worried by Haaland’s goal-scoring form, Guardiola told TNT Sports: “A lot, a lot. Honestly, I’m so concerned!

“The people expect him to score four goals every time. The people want him to fail. I am sorry but this guy will score goals all his life, with the chances he is an incredible threat.

“It is important to have the chances. The players need the ability to find the pass like Kevin de Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan. But he is going to score until the last day he plays football.

“It was an exceptional game our positional game was really good. The physicality of them led to a little bit more aggression against them in the one-on-one.

“One more game to qualify mathematically and then two more to finish first.”

Despite questions surrounding Haaland’s form, having missed a Premier League-high nine big chances this campaign, the 23-year-old leads the division's Golden Boot race with nine goals.

Referencing Haaland’s 52-goal haul last year, City teammate and the man of the match against Young Boys Rico Lewis added: “He is just like any other striker, people get onto him because of the season he had last year. It is a credit to him and what he did last year.”

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Topics: Football, Pep Guardiola, Manchester City, Erling Haaland, Premier League, Champions League

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.