Manchester City’s star striker Erling Haaland has admitted he’s glad to be back on the pitch but has dismissed their chances of repeating last year’s historic treble.
The 23 year old Norwegian, who had been out of action since early December due to a foot injury, scored his first return goals in City’s 2-0 victory over Everton. Despite City’s current winning streak and their strong position in the league and Champions League, Haaland was quick to play down the prospects of another treble win.
He told TNT Sports: “No, we won’t do that,” echoing Pep Guardiola’s previous comments about the slim chances of such an achievement.”
Haaland also shared his feelings about his time off the field, saying: “It’s been horrible. I really don’t like it, but it makes you appreciate going into training and getting a bit nervous before games. It makes your mind think a bit differently.”
“It was good to be playing again and an amazing feeling to win. I’ve been practising with my right foot, I should have scored one like this at Brentford, so it shows improvement.”
“We always work hard as a team, so a fantastic performance. It was a good win. People will try and destroy our game, but we are a good team, we’ve been on a good run, that’s ten in a row.”
Manchester City briefly topped the Premier League after their early kick-off win, but Liverpool reclaimed the spot by beating Burnley 3-1.
The title holders were held back by Everton until the 71st minute when Haaland scored from a corner. City boss Pep Guardiola was full of praise in the aftermath. He said: “I told them, they don’t believe me, they felt it and these types of victories count more than the other ones by far like Brentford a few days ago. So we were there, we didn’t concede one shot on target.”
“Of course, they were incredibly organised. It’s so difficult. On set-pieces, we weren’t perfect on the second ball but I don’t think we conceded one corner or nothing.
“At the end, I think the changes in the second half, Kyle [Walker] and Kevin [De Bruyne] gave us another rhythm and then of course Erling is back. When the ball is there he’s always there and the finish is amazing.”
