During Manchester City’s 3-1 triumph against RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Thursday, Erling Haaland drew yet another blank.
The defending champions had to score twice in the dying minutes in Germany to keep their perfect record in Group G.
Before Julian Alvarez and Jeremy Doku scored late goals for the visitors, Leipzig’s Lois Openda cancelled out Phil Foden’s opening goal.
Erling Haaland’s goalless stretch can be a worrying situation for Guardiola’s team
Guardiola, the manager of City, could be a bit worried about his goal-scoring machine Haaland.
The superstar from Norway has now gone five games without a goal in the Champions League, the longest drought of his career to date.
With 35 goals in 32 games overall in Europe, Haaland has an incredible record. By his standards, this goalless stretch is a drought.
The 23-year-old now holds a tie for 17th place overall among all Champions League goal scorers. Erling Haaland is above stars like Wayne Rooney and Samuel Eto’o. His 52 goals for City in 2022–2023 helped the team win an unprecedented treble.
However, when he is not scoring, Erling Haaland does not have a significant impact for Guardiola’s team. In the win over Leipzig, the striker only touched the ball 25 times.
With eight goals in seven games, Erling Haaland is still the Premier League’s top scorer so far. But the forward has squandered an unusually high amount of excellent opportunities. When questioned about Haaland’s recent performance in front of goal, Guardiola said there is no issue.
The Man City manager said the following about Haaland before the Leipzig game. He said
“He had a lot of chances to score the goals. It gets more difficult with five defenders, on the 18 yard box, there but not just for him for any player around the world.”
Guardiola further added
“If you see the chances he’s had and the goals he’s scored, he’s at the same level as last season.”
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