Erling Haaland has been toppling records left and right as of late. For starters, he has recently surpassed the previous record set by Mick Quinn and Sergio Aguero for the most goals scored during his first five matches in the Premier League.
This accomplishment came during a spectacular match in which The Sky Blues defeated Nottingham Forest with a whopping 6-0 victory, in which Haaland pulled a surprising hat-trick; to say that the fans were cheering from start to finish would be an understatement.
Up to the Champions League
So the question right now is, will Man City’s number 10 bring his club to victory in the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League? We will soon see, for the competition itself gets started. The Sky Blues will thus face off against the Blanquirrojos. Afterward, they have a date set up with Dortmund on the 14th of September, and after that, on October 5, they will go toe-to-toe with Copenhagen.
Can he do it?
Fans certainly have big expectations placed on Haaland; in fact, they are surely hoping for a repeat of the skill displayed against The Tricky Trees. However, Pep Guardiola best said it himself “If we rely all on Erling’s shoulders we don’t win the Champions League,” as well as “I understand everyone talks about Erling but I have three, four, five new players and they all must settle.” And it is all quite true; for starters, the rising young start is not the only player who came up from Dortmund.
Manuel Akanji also came from there after a 15-million-pound deal and a 5-year-long contract; this defender spent approximately 4 years in Germany, with a total of 158 appearances.
There are also signings such as Kalvin Phillips, coming from Leeds United; Stefan Ortega, from Arminia Bielefeld; and Sergio Gomez from Anderlecht. All coming in as the club leadership seeks to re-arm itself after some pretty big departures, such as that of Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, and Fernandinho.
The next step
In any case, the point made by Guardiola stands, there are a lot of big talents on City’s list, not just Halaand; and if anything is achieved in the Champions League, it will be in its entirety a team effort, not just one man’s accomplishment, no matter how great of a player he might be.
However, it is important to note that during his time with Salzburg during the 2019/20 season, he was the first teen to ever score five times in the Champions League matches consecutively; and that year he received the Golden Boy award. So, whilst it will still be a team effort, he could be the key to greater glory for The Citizens.
In any case, surely The Sky Blues will perform admirably in their upcoming matches and fans will still get to see the amazing skill of Erling Haaland as he keeps beating record after record; and he will surely do so as well in the Champions League.
The schedule for all of these tournaments is rather cramped and with the competition in Qatar being so near, it’s best to start checking the top World Cup betting site to be found.