Captain Ilkay Gundogan has detailed how Erling Haaland has made such an astonishing impact in his debut season at Manchester City.
The Norwegian international, who laid his hands on the Premier League title for the very first time after City beat Chelsea 1-0 on Sunday, has so far plundered 52 goals in his debut season at the Etihad Stadium. Snapped up from Borussia Dortmund last summer, he has exceeded expectations beyond belief, breaking record after record.
Though City have always been a side renowned for scoring goals by the bucket load, Haaland's presence at the top end of the pitch has given them a new approach, such is his extreme talent level. He is a dominant centre-forward that can take two centre-backs out of the game, such is the quality of his movement and all-round brilliance.
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And for Gundogan, who has now won five league titles during his City career, Haaland has changed City's style of play, enabling the Blues to use an extra man in their build-up play, with one extra member of the opposition so often assigned to keeping an eye on the former Dortmund star and doubling up on him.
"Our game with Erling changes," Gundogan told Sky Sports. "We have someone in there who, most of the time, is able to attract a couple of centre backs, so most of the time that gives us one extra man in our build-up, which is always what we’re looking for and crucial to our type of football.
"When we are brave - and two great examples are our Real Madrid games, one away and one at home - we didn't play bad in the first leg but we didn't play great enough.
"We had one more man in the middle, and if you compare it to the second leg those two men did an unbelievable job and made it for us up front so, so easy, after they beat [Luka] Modric, and Erling gives us this quality.
"He is able to attract two defenders and that gives us a lot in our build-up."
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