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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about Erling Haaland's level after his two goals against Bournemouth made another victory
Pep Guardiola brushed off concerns that Manchester City are a one-man team by claiming Erling Haaland is as good as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 25-year-old looks to be in the best form of his life and scored his 16th and 17th goals of the season in the 3-1 win against Bournemouth to move City up to second in the Premier League. They sit six points behind leaders Arsenal after 10 games and take on champions Liverpool next week at the Etihad.
Haaland's goals also widened the chasm between him and the rest of his City teammates. The Norwegian has 13 in the Premier League this season, with the next best in Guardiola's squad managing just one; Burnley's Maxime Esteve is, bizarrely, City's second-highest scorer in the league this season after his two own goals when the teams met at the Etihad in September.
Omar Marmoush scored in the League Cup in midweek and will be expected to add more goals as he gets over his injury, and other midfielders also need to contribute. However, Guardiola's concerns are lessened when he sees Haaland continue to influence games with goals in the way that the two best players on the planet in the last 20 years have.
“Last game v Swansea without him we scored three goals. But it like when you play with Messi or Ronaldo, the influence is so big. The vision they have," he said.
“Have you seen the numbers of that guy? Oh my god, of course he has reached their level. The numbers from Cristiano and Messi have been for 15 years, Messi still scoring two, three goals every game in MLS and Cristiano in Saudi Arabia the same. This is that level.
“The first goal, the way he shoot the ball, going down on the grass, it's like ‘I am going to score this’. It's top.
"I have said many times, he is incredibly coachable and I am tough with him sometimes on what he has to do better.
"He always tries to be open minded when there are players who say, ‘what are you talking about?’
"He is completely down to earth, he wants to do it and he lives for the goals. Without him, it would be tough to be honest but I'm lucky that Omar is back and we have other players.”
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