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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says Erling Haaland’s spectacular winner in their 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund reminded him of former Dutch great Johan Cruyff.
It seemed the German side would cause a boilover in the Champions League Group G game after England’s Jude Bellingham netted in the 56th minute, before a thundering long-range drive from defender John Stones equalised for City in the 80th minute at the Etihad.
Guardiola joked before the post-match news conference that he wanted to focus on the Stones strike before mentioning Haaland, but the superstar signing’s effort was worth talking about.
The Norwegian leapt at the back post, six minutes from the end of the game, to hook an already-impressive João Cancelo cross into the net with the outside of his left foot from well above the head of any defenders in sight.
“The people who know me, maybe you know the influence Johan Cruyff had in my life as a person — education, manager and mentor and everything,” Guardiola said.
“Johan Cruyff, years ago, years ago, scored in the Camp Nou, an incredible goal against Atletico Madrid.
“It was quite, quite, quite similar to Erling Haaland’s goal and the moment he scored the goal, I thought, ‘Oh, Johan Cruyff.’
“It was quite similar, it was a really good one.”
With his third goal of this campaign, after a double in City’s opener against Sevilla, Haaland now has 26 Champions League goals from 21 games.
That is just one behind Luis Suárez, who scored 27 in 73 games for Ajax, Barcelona and Atelico, and within reach of other greats like Wayne Rooney (30/85) and Arjen Robben (31/110).
Making matters better for Haaland and worse for Dortmund, the 22-year-old star played in the German side’s famous black and yellow until the summer.
“That shows his quality,” Bellingham said.
“He’s not always in the game, but you give him half a sniff and it ends up in a goal.”
Despite Stones and Haaland’s heroics, Guardiola was far from happy about the way his team, once again, had to turn the game around.
“We played in the wrong gear today,” he said.
“No aggression. Incredibly passive.”
City, who won their opening group game against Sevilla 4-0, top the standings on six points, three ahead of the Germans.
Reuters
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