With Erling Haaland on the brink of a remarkable scoring milestone, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is taking a calm approach, believing that his star striker will continue to improve with more game time. Haaland, who has already scored 99 goals in just 103 appearances for City since joining in 2022, is poised to reach the 100-goal mark against Inter Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Guardiola is confident in Haaland’s natural progression. “The experience of playing game after game, they will improve,” he said, highlighting that the Norwegian international’s growth will come organically. “The more games he plays for this club, he will be a better player. And in a natural way. Not because we did something special or he practices something special, just a natural way.”
Haaland’s remarkable scoring ability was evident last season when he netted 52 goals in 53 appearances. Despite this incredible feat, Guardiola noted that Haaland faced muscular issues in the initial months and struggled a bit. However, this season, Haaland is injury-free and mentally refreshed after a summer off due to Norway’s absence from the European Championship.
Following back-to-back hat tricks with two goals against Brentford, Haaland has already amassed nine goals in his first four games this season. While Guardiola acknowledges Haaland’s extraordinary talent, he doesn’t expect a goal-scoring frenzy in every match. “I don’t expect every single game he scores three, two, three, two goals,” he said, assuring fans that Haaland’s quality is undeniable. “The difference to last season is he’s good, no problems, and when a player has that feeling, he can perform his best.”
Wednesday’s match marks a rematch of last year’s Champions League final, where City emerged victorious against Inter Milan, thanks to a decisive goal by Rodri. While Guardiola has revisited the game for the first time on Monday, he insists it won’t be used as motivational fuel for his players. “About the inspiration and emotions, I’m so cold on that,” he said, emphasizing that this is just the first of eight matches in the group stage. “Tactically we just need to be present.”
