erling haaland Already holding premier league Single season scoring record.
He has already scored more than twice as many goals as any other player in the league this season, with 13 goals in 10 games.
He was also the fastest to reach the 50 goal mark.
So what does the Manchester City striker have to achieve in terms of personal records in the world’s top league?
Well, Haaland revealed on Tuesday that while he’s not the kind of guy who sets his sights on specific records, there is one particular metric that he knows well. That was Alan Shearer’s 260th Premier League goal.
Haaland, 25, has already scored 98 goals in 107 league games for City and could break Shearer’s record if he maintains his current pace.
“I know this record. I don’t actually know anything, but I know this record. It’s his Premier League record, yes,” Haaland said ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash with his former club Borussia Dortmund.
Shearer, who needed 441 games to set his record, recently said he thought Haaland would break the record if he remained at City.
But Haaland never even considered the possibility of reaching or breaking one of the league’s most revered records.
“That’s the last thing I think about. I’m just trying to help the team win football games,” he said. “That’s my job, that’s my main focus. I know it’s boring. I know you want me to say the exact opposite, but it’s really not.”
humble leader
City manager Josep Guardiola cited Haaland’s humble attitude as one of the reasons he named him this season’s vice-captain.
“It’s hard to find real world-class players and stars who are incredibly humble and think about what’s best for the team,” Guardiola said. “It’s hard to find players (who score goals) who have this kind of ability or talent or generosity and kindness. … And so did Haaland. It was surprising. Usually strikers just think about goals, goals, goals.”
Another factor was the handing over of coaching duties to a player who signed a 10-year contract with the club earlier this year.
“The more he is involved, the better the situation will be,” Guardiola said.
Messi and Ronaldo’s “far away”
Regarding Guardiola’s compliment, Haaland said his actions were “completely normal” for Guardiola.
“I’m Norwegian,” Haaland said. “You shouldn’t think you’re something just because you’re scoring goals. It’s simple. I’m just Erling and this will never change.”
Haaland’s numbers have sometimes been compared to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. So does he consider himself close to their level?
“No, not at all. It’s far away,” he said. “No one can get close to those two, so no.”
heading and defense
Haaland is still perfecting his game.
“I’ve been working on my heading ever since I joined Molde in 2017 with Ole Gunnar (Solskjær) and Mark Dempsey,” he said. “I think you’ll never be good enough when it comes to heading. I think you can always get better and better. … There’s still a long way to go.”
Haaland, who is used to defending from set pieces, has recently been heading the ball away from opposing strikers.
“It’s not the best, but I have no complaints,” he said. “I prefer to be in the other box, but I will do anything to help the team.”
world cup goals
Haaland scored 12 goals in six games for Norway and was the top scorer in the European World Cup qualifiers.
Two years before Haaland was born, Norway won all six games en route to qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 1998.
“My goal is to take Norway to the World Cup and the Euros,” Haaland said. “This is my main goal in my career and I now have a good chance to achieve it.”
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Andrew Damp, https://x.com/AndrewDampf
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AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
