Erling Haaland stole the headlines by scoring on his Manchester City debut on Saturday night, but the Norwegian striker is not the only part of City's attack that opponents are going to have to worry about this season.
City enjoyed a short but successful pre-season tour in the United States, beating Club America 2-1 in Houston before edging out Bayern Munich 1-0 in Green Bay. The Premier League champions have now returned home to continue their preparations for the season, which kicks-off on Saturday in the Community Shield against Liverpool.
Haaland scored the only goal of the game against Bayern, finishing off a move that involved brilliant play from both Kevin de Bruyne and Jack Grealish. The goal gave a sneak preview of a potentially lethal trio for Pep Guardiola's side this season. And club favourite Shaun Goater, scorer of 103 goals for City, was certainly impressed.
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"It’s a brilliant bit of play. Three key players were involved – De Bruyne, Grealish and Haaland," Goater said of the decisive goal during City's Matchday Live show.
"Before he [Haaland] receives the ball, Grealish has a quick glance over his shoulder – he knows he has time to look – and takes a touch, which takes out the defender. He sees in the corner of his eye the blue shirts and puts it across.
"Haaland is just in the right place – he knows he’s got to get there, make that two, three yards to get a foot on it.
"We’re going to see a lot of this – it’s a typical City goal. It’s not a ball from wide, it’s a straight ball through but it’s typical in terms of the phase of play, the ball getting to the byline and being put across the six-yard box. I can see that’s ten goals a season for him [in that kind of move]."
"It must be such a great feeling for him," added former City defender Nedum Onuoha on Haaland. "He knows all eyes are on him – he’s very aware of his presence and how people perceive him.
"You can see the joy it brought to the players – the new singing off the mark. You can’t put a value on that, it’s truly incredible."
City fans will have a chance of seeing the trio in action on Saturday when City take on Liverpool in the Community Shield, before the Blues kick-off their Premier League campaign with a trip to West Ham on Sunday 7 August.
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