Erling Haaland scored twice as Manchester City defeated Leeds in the Premier League but the striker had plenty more chances to add to his tally for Pep Guardiola’s side
Pep Guardiola joked he was “so upset” after Erling Haaland passed up the chance to score a hat-trick as Manchester City dispatched Leeds.
The defending champions closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to five points with a 3-1 victory at Elland Road thanks to Rodri’s opener and Haaland’s double, with Pascal Struijk scoring a consolation goal. Norwegian sensation Haaland became the fastest player to reach 20 Premier League goals in the process, although he could have had many more on Wednesday night.
The 22-year-old was clearly frustrated not to have completed his treble as he spoke after the match but stressed the three points were more important than his personal tally. Guardiola, meanwhile, could not hide his grin as he sarcastically declared he was “so upset, so upset” about the chances Haaland squandered while speaking on Amazon Prime Video.
Addressing the BBC, the City boss added: “He (Haaland) scored a lot of goals but he could have scored more. He help us a lot.” Assessing the performance as a whole, Guardiola said: “We played really well against this team in this stadium. We made a great performance in the second half, when they were a bit more open.
“After the World Cup, nobody knows how we were going to react and the way Leeds were playing lately. Today, with the ball, we were brilliant. The relationship between Rico Lewis and Rodri was brilliant in the middle of the pitch.”
The Spaniard reserved special praise for Jack Grealish, who was wasteful in front of goal in the first half but set up both of Haaland’s strikes. “Grealish made two assists, he allowed us to give an extra pass when he had it,” Guardiola said.
Erling Haaland could easily have scored a hat-trick against Leeds
“With Riyad [Mahrez] and Jack, the tempo was better. But he has to be more ambitious, he has to score more goals and be competitive, because he has the quality to do it.”
Leeds manager Jesse Marsch heaped praise on the City No.9 – whom he managed at Red Bull Salzburg – after the match, saying: “Haaland has an uncanny ability to know where to be to score goals and a hunger like I have never seen before. It is infectious in the team. It is a desire that spreads through the team.
“I don’t know whether Man City are my favourites for the league but Haaland is one of my favourite players to watch. We have work to do, we need to get a couple of guys healthy but I want to get our heads down to get better and not be in a relegation battle. We need to work hard.”
Source: Mirror.co.uk
