The Norwegian striker Erling Haaland has received plaudits from Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola after putting up strong numbers at the start of his career with the club, but Guardiola won’t rate Haaland over seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi.
Although, The eras of Ronaldo and Messi are already coming to an end, the football world seems unready to sideline them in any football debate.
Recently, Pep Guardiola who had coached Messi at Barcelona and currently coaching Haaland at Manchester City was dragged into discussing the differences between Haaland and Messi.
During the post match conference of the Manchester Derby , 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.”
Analysing The Uniqueness Between Messi and Haaland
Sergio Busquets, Andre Iniesta, and Xavi Hernandez were Messi’s teammates. He scored significant goals, carried a Barcelona team that struggled to win games, and dribbled past defenders out of the midfield.
Messi is the player with the most assists in the world, which comes as no surprise given his prowess from free kicks. The Argentine frequently appears in important games and has caused trouble for several clubs.
Messi had never previously played as a striker, even When Barcelona won the six trophies in 2009, the player was in the left wing and Guardiola preferred to use Samuel Eto’o as a striker and Thierry Henry on the right wing.
We still clearly recall how he dribbled past five opponents for his goal against Villarreal in 2009 while still wearing the number 30 jersey at Barca.
Messi demonstrated what a one-man performance looks like by dribbling past everyone and scoring by himself against Atletico Bilbao in the Copa Del Rey final.
By remaining in the PSG midfield to bring tranquility and force Marco Verrati to sit deep in the middle, he is currently assisting Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in scoring goals.
When Argentina defeated Brazil to win the Copa America, Messi was the finest player during the tournament because he set goals for his teammates.
Haaland, on the other hand, has primarily played as a striker throughout his career. He is a superb number 9, and he rarely enters the midfield to set up opportunities for his team.
He remained fixed to that position when playing for Molde in Norway and waited patiently for any ball to come his way before attempting a goal.
He was able to find players like Minamino even at RB Salzburg who gave him opportunities.
Jadon Sancho and Marco Reus were mostly creating chances for him at Borussia Dortmund, where he scored more than 50 goals.
Haaland often becomes irate when majority of the team fails to pass the ball to him.
The ability of key players like Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, and Kevin De Bryune to create opportunities has made it easier for the Norwegian striker to score goals.
With the 22-year-old striker establishing benchmarks and shattering records set by Premier League heroes, Haaland is without a doubt this season’s top acquisition.
He has now appeared in fewer games and scored more goals for Manchester City then most greats in the history of the club.
There are still 30 games left to play this season, and Haaland needs 20 goals to surpass Mohammad Salah’s season-high goal total (32).
Haaland is transforming into Pep Cheat code and defenders find it difficult to play against him because he is a beast that instills terror in them.
