Pep Guardiola explains why Erling Haaland will not be the deciding factor between Manchester City’s previous Champions League failures and their first title.
City have been repeatedly frustrated in the Champions League, but they have advanced to the quarter-finals for the sixth consecutive year after dominating RB Leipzig, led by Haaland.
The City number nine scored five goals in a 7-0 second-leg win in the last 16 on Tuesday, securing an 8-1 aggregate victory.
In the process, Haaland broke a number of records, including setting a new club record with 39 goals this season.
But these unprecedented goalscoring feats will not be enough to make City champions of Europe if they do not defend better than in previous seasons, Guardiola insisted.
Asked if Haaland’s involvement could be pivotal, the City manager told BT Sport: “I don’t think so. The reason why is we conceded a lot of goals that we gave to the opponent.
“We scored four goals against Real Madrid, we scored six goals against Monaco, we scored four goals against Tottenham, and all the time we were out, because we conceded the goals. We could absolutely avoid it.
“Right now, we defended really well. The goals we have scored all the time in all the seasons.
“But of course having someone like Erling, like Julian [Alvarez], like we had with Sergio [Aguero] before or Gabriel [Jesus], who has the instinct to score the goals… in this competition, in one moment, he can score. It’s important.”
Haaland scored five goals from eight shots, all of which hit the target, before being substituted with 27 minutes to play, denied the chance to become the first man to net a double hat-trick in the Champions League.
“It was five in 60 minutes, no more than that. If he played 90 minutes… I don’t know,” Guardiola said.
“He’s an incredible guy. He has the power, the mentality, he’s a serial winner.”