ISecretly, they must have hoped in Munich that Erling Haaland’s groin would pinch a little longer. Manchester City’s storm sensation missed the Premier League game against Liverpool and Norway’s European Championship qualifiers against Spain and Georgia in late March and early April due to complaints.
But on Saturday he returned to City’s game against bottom-placed Southampton FC and scored two more goals as if nothing had happened. FC Bayern cannot cling to Haaland’s absence when he plays in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals in Manchester this Tuesday (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Champions League and on Prime Video).
In all competitions combined, Haaland has scored a whopping 44 goals in 38 appearances this season; 30 in the Premier League, ten in the Champions League – five of them in the round of 16 second leg against RB Leipzig. In the 4-1 win against Southampton, it wasn’t just his nose for goals that helped him, but also his almost incomparable athleticism: he scored the goal to make it 3-0 with a spectacular side kick.
Haaland needs templates
However, he succeeded because Southampton’s defenders allowed him to develop freely in the situation. City trainer Pep Guardiola afterwards gave Haaland the greatest conceivable praise: Football had experienced “two incredible decades” with world stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, but at least when it came to scoring goals, Haaland was on the same level.
Haaland doesn’t have to do much more than that in Guardiola’s system. He is rarely involved in City’s passing game: he only plays an average of 13.3 passes per match; his 44 goals are matched by just five assists. Part of the reason he can focus on his role as a thoroughbred attacker is that he’s surrounded by players whose job it is to tailor him to the scene. The master of this discipline is Belgian Kevin De Bruyne, City’s longest-serving pro.
De Bruyne gave the lead to make it 1-0 against Southampton – who else? – Erling Haaland. In doing so, he set a new record: it was his 100th assist in the Premier League, and no one else has managed it as quickly as he did. This season, De Bruyne has directly prepared seven goals for Haaland in the league alone.
Guardiola’s tactical focus on Haaland is a departure from possession football. Without De Bruyne, the transition would probably not work so well. To a lesser extent, the same applies to the increasingly strong Jack Grealish, who made it 2-0 on Saturday and brought in the cross before Haaland’s overhead kick. Since the World Cup in Qatar, he has been directly involved in ten goals in 15 league appearances.
City are now six points behind leaders Arsenal, who drew 2-2 with Liverpool on Sunday, in the English championship fight. The Champions League title, which Guardiola has not won with City so far, is more important. It should work with Haaland.
