Pep Guardiola has admitted Erling Haaland‘s phenomenal goalscoring feats at Manchester City have taken him by surprise.
Haaland has scored 99 goals in just 103 games at City and could make it 100 for the club when Guardiola’s side face Inter Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The Norwegian striker arrived at the Etihad Stadium in 2022 with a formidable reputation after spells at Molde, RB Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund.
But Guardiola says he’s been surprised by the level he’s reached at City.
“A little bit, yeah,” Guardiola said. “Do you know what, I played 11 years as a professional [for Barcelona] and I scored 11 goals. This guy scored nine goals in four games [this season]. He can equal me in one more game! So he’s surprised me!”
Haaland scored 52 goals in 53 games in his first season at City and followed it up with 38 in 45 appearances last term.
He has started the new season in blistering form, scoring back-to-back hat tricks against Ipswich Town and West Ham United and Guardiola has warned the rest of Europe that the 24-year-old is feeling fitter than ever.
“The difference from last season is he feels his body, the niggles, tiredness, is better,” Guardiola said.
“He came from Dortmund with a lot of problems, muscular problems in the first month, and struggled a little bit. So far [this season] he feels ‘I’m clean, I’m good here and no problems.’
“I don’t expect him to score two or three goals in every single game, it’s not a problem because I know the quality is there, but the difference from last season is he feels good, no problems. When players have that feeling they can perform their best.”
