Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola cites major difference between Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi


Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola cites major difference between Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi

Erling Haaland, according to Pep Guardiola, is still not at Lionel Messi’s level since he depends more on his teammates than the Argentine legend. Since joining Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, Haaland has broken a tonne of records.

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He recently scored his third consecutive home league hat trick in the 6-3 thrashing of Manchester United. He already has 17 goals in all competitions this season and is on pace to surpass Messi’s scoring statistics from his peak at Barcelona. When questioned about the two players, Guardiola did discuss the distinction that currently separates them.

After the derby victory, Guardiola said: “The difference is, maybe that Erling needs all his mates to do it. It is unbelievable. [But] Messi had the ability himself to do it.” Haaland is presently surrounded by players like as Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, and Ilkay Gundogan, to name a few.

Pep Guardiola managed Barcelona from 2008 to the summer of 2012 when Messi was just making a name of himself all over the globe. His successful reign at the Blaugrana coincided with Messi’s best individual season to date and since the former’s sacking in 2012, Messi has won only 1 Champions League in 10 seasons.

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Can Manchester City’s Erling Haaland reach the level attained by Lionel Messi?

Manchester City

During the latter years of his time at Camp Nou, Messi did lead some underwhelming Barca teams to victory, but he also shared the field with renowned midfielders Xavi and Andres Iniesta, who would initiate attacks. In total, Barcelona’s cornerstones Xavi and Iniesta assisted Messi 68 times during their time at the Catalan club.

Along with his three goals against United, Haaland also assisted on one of Phil Foden’s goals; the England international scored three times as City once more cut the deficit to one point between themselves and Premier League leaders Arsenal.

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