Manchester City coach Josep Guardiola of Spain felt that comparing his team’s top scorer Erling Haaland to Argentine world champion Lionel Messi is bad for the young Norwegian player.
Haaland, 22, has been performing well at Manchester City this season and needs a goal to set the record for the most goals scored in a single season in the Premier League, a system that has been in place since 1992.
And by scoring 2-1 against Fulham last Sunday, Haaland increased his tally to 34 goals this season, equaling the combined records of Alan Shearer (1995 with Blackburn) and Andy Cole (1994 with Newcastle United). ).
While Haaland has increased his tally to 50 goals in various competitions this season, some have compared his achievement to what Messi achieved in the 2012 season with Barcelona when he scored 73 goals under Guardiola.
But Guardiola stopped the comparisons, saying: “No one compares to Messi. It won’t help Erling. Messi is the most complete player I have ever seen in terms of vision, dribbling, passing, competitiveness and many other complex things. .”
Guardiola, who has coached Messi, the best player in the world seven times, added: “I hope Erling gets closer to Leo, it would be great for him and for us, but I don’t help anyone compare them.”
Haaland still has plenty of matches to add to his scoring tally as his side has 6 league games left, at least two Champions League matches to face Real Madrid in the semi-final and they face their sworn neighbor Manchester. United in the final of the local cup in early June.
Source: agencies
