Tag: Erling Haaland

SOUTHAMPTON: Erling Haaland is fit to return for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Southampton, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola confirmed on Friday.

Haaland, who has scored 42 goals this season, missed City’s 4-1 hammering of Liverpool last weekend after pulling out of international duty with Norway due to a groin injury.

His return is a timely boost for City’s quest to win a treble of trophies in the final two months of the season.

“He trained the last two days really good,” said Guardiola. “He will be ready.”

City welcome Bayern Munich to the Etihad for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final just three days after their trip to St Mary’s.

But Guardiola said he was fully focused on chasing down Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.

The Gunners have an eight-point lead, but City have a game in hand on Mikel Arteta’s men and host Arsenal at the Etihad later this month.

“Bayern is our last thought,” said the City boss. “It’s Southampton — the Premier League is every day, every week.”

Southampton are bottom of the table but shocked City when the sides last met, dumping the English champions out of the League Cup.

City have only won twice in their past five visits to St Mary’s and Guardiola is expecting another tough test.

“Now every team is playing for something,” he said. “Every game has its own characteristics and you have to be ready, Southampton have always been so tough.

“Always it’s been a tough, tough game. Tomorrow won’t be an exception.”

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OSLO: Norway’s star striker Erling Haaland will miss the country’s next two Euro qualifiers against Spain and Georgia due to a groin injury, the Norwegian FA said Tuesday.

Haaland, who recently scored five goals for his club Manchester City against Leipzig in the Champions League and a hat-trick against Burnley in the FA Cup, complained about groin pain following the Burnley game over the weekend.

The Norwegian Football Federation said Haaland had left the national team’s training camp in Marbella, Spain, to undergo a medical follow-up with his Premier League club.

“We hoped it was just a discomfort that would pass by Saturday, but after tests and examinations yesterday it is clear that he will not be ready for the games against Spain and Georgia,” team doctor Ola Sand was quoted as saying in a statement.

Norway will play two away games in their Euro 2024 qualifying group A debut, first against Spain in Malaga on Saturday and Georgia in Batumi on Tuesday.

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MANCHESTER: Erling Haaland equalled a Champions League record with a five-goal haul to ease Manchester City into the quarter-finals at RB Leipzig’s expense with a 7-0 win on Tuesday. 

Haaland also set a new club record for goals in a season of 39 in the process as Pep Guardiola’s men reached the last eight for the sixth consecutive season with an 8-1 aggregate victory.

“My super strength is scoring goals,” said Haaland. “A lot of it is being quick in the mind and trying to put it where the goalkeeper is not.”

Abu Dhabi-owned City are yet to go all the way in the Champions League, but they have never had a striker of Haaland’s quality to make the difference in the latter stages before.

At just 22 he now has 33 goals in 25 appearances in Europe’s premier club competition.

“Firstly, I’m proud to play in this competition, I love it,” added Haaland. “Five goals! To win 7-0 is amazing.”

The snowy weather was more akin to Haaland’s homeland, but City did not freeze under the pressure and kept their Champions League dreams alive.

The tie was delicately balanced after a 1-1 draw in eastern Germany three weeks ago, but a Leipzig side depleted by injury never looked like a match for their star-studded opponents.

“That was an incredible performance,” said Leipzig coach Marco Rose.

“They didn’t allow us to control the game at all, at no stage of the game. The bottom line is disappointing for us but they really deserved it.”

Guardiola had kept Kevin De Bruyne in reserve for City’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace in the Premier League at the weekend and on his return to the starting line-up, the Belgian was back to his best.

Ilkay Gundogan should have opened the scoring after just three minutes from De Bruyne’s inviting cross.

There was some fortune surrounding City’s opener as VAR spotted a handball against Benjamin Henrichs that led to a penalty that neither the City players nor the crowd even noticed.

– Denied record chance –

Haaland fired low to Janis Blaswich’s left to maintain his perfect record from the spot for City with his sixth penalty of the season.

Two minutes later it was 2-0 as Haaland teed up De Bruyne, who smashed a shot against the bar, and then showed his speed and strength to power home a header from the rebound.

Haaland had three before half-time as Ruben Dias rose highest to head Jack Grealish’s corner onto the post and Amadou Haidara’s attempted clearance ricocheted off City’s number nine into the net.

Gundogan’s classy finish into the far corner four minutes into the second half rubbed more salt into Leipzig’s wounds before Haaland started rewriting the record books.

Firstly, he hammered home at the second attempt after Blaswich parried his initial header to match Tommy Johnson’s record of 38 goals for City in the 1928-29 season.

Haaland set a new mark with still three months of the campaign to go when he snaffled up another rebound after Blaswich saved from Manuel Akanji.

In the process, he moved level with Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano’s record of scoring five goals in a Champions League game.

But Guardiola denied his star striker the chance of another record as he replaced him with Julian Alvarez with 25 minutes remaining.

“If he achieves all these milestones at 22 his life would be boring,” joked Guardiola on making the change.

Instead, it was left to De Bruyne to have the final say as he curled a superb strike into the top corner in stoppage time.

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MANCHESTER: Eddie Nketiah’s last minute strike earned Arsenal a thrilling 3-2 win over Manchester United to move five points clear at the top of the Premier League on Sunday after Erling Haaland’s hat-trick fired Manchester City to a 3-0 victory over Wolves.

The Gunners remain on course for a first title in 19 years with a game in hand over City also to come.

United went in front at the Emirates after Marcus Rashford’s thunderous strike opened the scoring with his ninth goal since the World Cup break.

Arsenal levelled within seven minutes as Nketiah’s powerful header rounded off a brilliant team move.

Bukayo Saka’s long-range effort that arrowed into the bottom corner put the home side in front early in the second half.

This time United bounced straight back when Lisandro Martinez, who had been a target for Arsenal before arriving at Old Trafford in July, headed in a loose ball from a corner.

Erik ten Hag’s men were penned inside their own box for much of the final quarter as the post denied Saka a second and David de Gea saved from Nketiah.

Arsenal’s pressure finally got its reward when Nketiah flicked home Martin Odegaard’s shot and the goal survived a VAR check for offside.

“Emotional, a lot of passion, a lot of quality. It doesn’t get much better than that,” said Arteta.

“To come here against this team and play the way we played. The second half especially, the performance was incredible.”

A first defeat in 11 games realistically ends any hope of United’s first title in a decade as they slip 11 points behind Arsenal in fourth, having played a game more.

“It’s hard to accept when you lose in the last stage of the game,” said Ten Hag.

“We made mistakes with all three goals. Normally we are better in such situations. It can’t happen.”

Haaland’s fourth hat-trick 

Haaland’s fourth hat-trick in 19 Premier League appearances had briefly cut Arsenal’s lead at the top to two points as Pep Guardiola got the reaction he wanted from the defending champions.

Guardiola questioned his players’ hunger to retain the title after Thursday’s 4-2 win over Tottenham.

Haaland is the one major difference to Guardiola’s previous title-winning sides in England and the Norwegian silenced any doubts over whether City are a stronger force without a recognised striker.

The 22-year-old’s scoring rate has slowed marginally in recent weeks, but his header from Kevin De Bruyne’s cross moved him level with the 23 league goals that saw Mohamed Salah and Son Heung-min share the Golden Boot with last season.

Haaland then took his tally to 30 goals in all competitions from the penalty spot early in the second half after Ilkay Gundogan had been upended by Ruben Neves.

Wolves gifted Haaland his hat-trick four minutes later as goalkeeper Jose Sa presented the ball to Riyad Mahrez, who unselfishly squared for his teammate to roll into an unguarded net.

“The numbers are incredible,” said Guardiola.

“We can’t play the false nine with him. You have to adapt some movements with him and we are doing quite well.”

Just a second league defeat since Julen Lopetegui took charge leaves Wolves above the relegation zone only on goal difference.

Leeds edged one point clear of the bottom three, but remain without a league win since November after a 0-0 draw at home to Brentford.

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WISCONSIN: Erling Haaland impressed on his debut for Manchester City as his 12th-minute strike put his side ahead of the German giant Bayern Munich in a friendly match, here at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, USA. 

The 22-year-old, who missed the first game of City’s US tour against Mexico’s Club America, soared on his first appearance in the sky blue jersey after he netted the ball from close range to score the lone goal of the game.

The match witnessed a delayed start for 15 minutes after a thunderstorm and following Haaland’s goal the play was suspended until further notice. Officials then reduced the game to 80 minutes.

 

“I’ve been watching a lot of City games in the last years, and in the last years it has been without a striker, so of course, I’ve been seeing myself in these situations today, so I’m not surprised,” said Haaland after the game.

Manchester City will now return to England, where they will face Liverpool in the Community Shield on Saturday at Leicester’s King Power Stadium.

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MADRID: The Spanish League LaLiga has filed a complaint to UEFA against Paris Saint-Germain for the breach of financial fair play rules adding to a similar complaint it had filed earlier against Manchester City, it announced on Wednesday.

LaLiga believed that the French Club have broken the financial fair play regulations when it offered a new multi-million pounds contract to its striker Kylian Mbappe, which convinced him to decline the offer of the Spanish club Real Madrid.

The Spanish League has already filed a similar complaint against Manchester City in April, objecting that club has continuously failed to comply with the rules.

Since then, the Premier League club has also confirmed the signing of Erling Haaland for £51.2m from the German club Borussia Dortmund. Real Madrid was also interested in signing Haaland.

“LaLiga considers that these practices alter the ecosystem and the sustainability of football, harm all European clubs and leagues, and only serve to artificially inflate the market with money not generated in soccer itself,” the Spanish league said in a statement.

LaLiga further alleged that the irregular financing of both the clubs was carried out either through direct money injection or through sponsorship or other contracts that did not correspond to market conditions or made economic sense.

The Spanish league had already tried to sanction PSG and Man City by UEFA in the past. In 2017 and 2018, it also filed charges against them for violating financial fair play guidelines.

UEFA sanctioned Man City a two-year ban from the Champions League in 2020 for “serious breaches” of FFP rules following an investigation. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the ban.

Meanwhile, UEFA closed another financial fair play investigation against PSG in 2018 without imposing any sanctions. In 2014, both Man City and PSG were fined 20 million euros by the football’s governing body following the FFP breaches.

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