Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, has boldly stated that his striker, Erling Haaland, is on par with football legends Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.Guardiola made the comparison during his post-match comments after Haaland scored two goals in City’s 3-1 Premier League victory over Bournemouth on Sunday.
The manager emphasized Haaland’s impact: “We played really well, of course. Again, Erling was decisive,” he said. “It is a little like when you play with [Lionel] Messi or Cristiano [Ronaldo], you know? The influence is so big.”
When pressed on Haaland reaching that elite status, Guardiola pointed to the statistics: “Has he reached that level? You see the numbers of that guy? Yes, of course, he is at their level of the numbers of Cristiano and Messi.”
City’s next game is a Champions League clash against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.