Pep Guardiola said Erling Haaland is proving so prolific he is creating problems for himself in the future.
The Manchester City striker took his tally to eight goals in his last two games with his second successive hat-trick as Guardiola’s side thumped Burnley 6-0 in the FA Cup.
Haaland, who had struck five times in the 7-0 hammering of Leipzig on Tuesday, extended his club record to 42 goals in a season and Guardiola feels he is increasing expectations for other matches.
He said: “This guy will have a problem in the future, every game he will be expected to score three or four goals and this is not going to happen.”
As he had done against Leipzig, Guardiola substituted Haaland with about half an hour remaining and he added: “It is incredible he scores goals only playing one hour. He is so effective, an incredible threat.”
On whether he has set a target for the season, Haaland said: “No, I have not. I’m a striker, I love to score goals, but my focus is not on scoring goals but on getting the chances. If I get the chances, there’s a good chance I’ll score.”
Burnley manager, and former City captain, Vincent Kompany compared Haaland to some of the outstanding players of his generation and feels he will get better again.
He said: “I have played against the greats, [Lionel] Messi, Ronaldinho, [Zinedine] Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo: in the end they are part of a very special elite because I think even the very best find it very difficult to stop those guys because someone like Erling will keep finding a way. I think the goalscoring record in general puts you in a certain bracket, a certain category.
“He is an exciting player because what everybody sees is his goals and he is already very, very good at that, [with] his movement in the box and he has the athleticism and pace. He has a good feeling of where the ball is going to land in the box but then he is also in the right place for his development, he has the right coach with the right environment and I think he has the right mindset.”
