‘What can I do?’ – Erling Haaland jokes about telling Pep Guardiola he wanted six after being taken off
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ByEurosport
Updated 14/03/2023 at 22:49 GMT
It was a night to remember for Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, as he scored five of his team’s seven goals as they hammered RB Leipzig in the Champions League to book their place in the quarter-finals. Speaking after the game, Haaland joked about wanting to score six and was full of praise of the tactical set-up that the team employed in the game.
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Manchester City striker Erling Haaland joked about being taken off by manager Pep Guardiola against RB Leipzig having scored five goals, saying he wanted to get a double hat-trick.
Haaland was in blistering form on Tuesday evening, scoring five times as City hammered Leipzig 7-0, winning the tie 8-1 on aggregate.
Haaland was taken off early in the second-half, and speaking afterwards to BT Sport, he was asked what he had told Guardiola.
"I told him [Pep Guardiola] I would love to score a double hat-trick but what can I do?" Haaland replied smiling.
The Norwegian was also asked which of the five goals were his favourite, but he said that it was all a blur.
"I'm blurry in my head. I remember shooting but not thinking," he said.
"I was so tired after my celebrations.
"My super strength is scoring goals. Should I be honest? A lot of goals today, I didn't think. I was just trying to get it into the back of the net. A lot of it is being quick in the mind and trying to put it where the goalkeeper is not."
The striker was also full of praise for City’s gameplan, saying that he thinks the high-pressing game the team employed could be useful in the future.
"We worked on the pressing yesterday, especially at home we have to run and press. We are so good at getting the ball," he continued.
"In my opinion, we should do this more.
"I think we can use this more [pressing], there is more space for the guys in between to play. Compared to last year and now we can play with a striker in behind and that's what I'm trying to bring."
City became the fifth team to reach the Champions League quarter-finals with their victory, and they were shortly joined by Inter Milan, who edged past FC Porto.
Last week Chelsea, Benfica, Bayern Munich and AC Milan all booked their places in the final eight.
The last two spots will be confirmed on Wednesday evening. Defending champions Real Madrid currently lead Liverpool 5-2 whilst Napoli are 2-0 up on Eintracht Frankfurt.
Guardiola described Haaland as a "huge talent" but praised his team as a whole.
"It was a really good performance from minute one until the end from everyone," said the City boss.
"We play very good with and without the ball. We scored a lot of goals. Erling was amazing but everyone was exceptional.
"Five in 60 minutes. Incredible guy, huge talent. Power, mentality, he's a serial winner. Really good."
On whether they have missed those goals in previous seasons: "I don't think so.
"We scored four goals here against Real Madrid, six against Monaco, four against Tottenham. A lot of the time we were out because we conceded a lot. Right now these guys they defend really well. We had with Sergio [Aguero] before, this instinct to score goals."
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