Man City’s Guardiola raves about Haaland’s record night

Another pair of goalscoring records on Erling Haaland’s resume made Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola feel on Tuesday – tongue-in-cheek – as if he was tired of answering questions about his prolific goalscorer.

The 23-year-old became the quickest to score 40 goals in the Champions League with his 54th-minute goal sparking City’s 3-2 win over RB Leipzig that took them top spot in Group G with another day to play.

– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (US)

Three days earlier, Haaland became the fastest to score 50 Premier League goals in a 1-1 draw against Liverpool.

“Again? Do I have to tell you again?” Guardiola laughed when asked for comment. “Billion times, I’m really impressed. They won today. Another record. Congratulations. He’s a fantastic player. I tell you many times, we’re really, really happy.

“We love him, not just for the goals he scores, but for many other things.”

It took Haaland just 35 matches to reach 40 goals, beating Ruud van Nistelrooy’s mark of 45 matches. He also broke the record for the youngest player to reach 40 in the Champions League at 23 years and 130 days, beating a previous record set by PSG star Kylian Mbappé.

But more importantly for Guardiola, it sparked City’s comeback after a painfully slow first half, leaving them trailing by two goals for the first time in a Champions League match since 2018.

Guardiola said he hoped his players would learn from the rollercoaster match.

“Winning this game is not comfortable, realizing it, standing in front of the mirror and saying ‘We have to do better’,” Guardiola said. “But February [the round of 16], we will be there at the head of the group. I don’t know who we will face, but the second leg will take place [at home] and we have shown once again that we are capable of coming back.”

City took a different route to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday at the request of Guardiola. The manager wanted his team to see the Trinity statue of Colin Bell, Francis Lee and Mike Summerbee that was unveiled earlier today.

“I encouraged the club to drop us and the bus there and we can walk,” Guardiola said. “So another gesture for the three important [players]…really very nice.”

Information from Reuters was used in this story.