Pep Guardiola ironically said the reason he took off Erling Haaland against Burnley was because he did not want the player to break Lionel Messi’s record in the FA Cup.
Pep Guardiola hailed Haaland as someone who doesn’t complain because he just wants his team to continue playing with intensity and winning matches.
The striker is so effective and always a threat with his power to beat defenders. His joy in this life has always been to be happy.
Guardiola took Haaland off in the early stages of the second half after the Norwegian striker scored a hat trick against Championship side Burnley.
He claimed he always wanted to punish
his players, and that was his intention.
Interestingly, Haaland revealed in his postmatch interview that he told Guardiola he wanted to score a double hat trick but the coach had a different idea.
Guardiola has always put Messi ahead of Haaland and has failed to put both players on the same level in his previous interviews.
He claimed Haaland could never be on the same level as the Argentine legend.
Pep Guardiola was sarcastically replying to his decision to sub Haaland against Leipzig
There were speculations about the reason why Guardiola took off Haaland for Julian Alvarez against RB Leipzig in the 63rd minute in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 clash.
Many claimed that he did not want Haaland to break Messi’s record of scoring five goals in a single Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012.
Haaland breaking or making a record is not Guardiola’s priority right now. The most important thing for the coach is to win the Premier League and the Champions League this season.
The major reason he signed a new deal with City was to conquer Europe by winning the Champions League with the Premier League side.
Haaland became the third player to score five goals in the Champions League after Messi and the Brazilian Luiz Adriano.
The 23 years old striker had been Guardiola most important player
this season with 42 goals.
The striker is in the hunt for the Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup success this year. If Haaland wins all these trophies, he has a higher chance of being in contention to win the Ballon d’Or.
He has the chance of ribbing Messi of the Ballon d’Or despite the PSG star winning the World Cup in Qatar.
The 35-year-old Argentine had scored 17 goals and 18 assists in 31 appearances in all competitions this season, but his team has been knocked out of Europe by Bayern Munich.
Even though we know very well that the Ballon d’Or is based on individual awards, sometimes teams are a deciding factor in who wins the individual award.
Erling Haaland may surpass Mohammed Salah and Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s Premier League era record of 44 goals in all competitions in a season.
Clive Allen’s 49 goals for Tottenham and Dixie Dean’s 60 goals in the 1920s are under threat. No player is currently on the same level as Haaland in the Premier League.
