Pep Guardiola admits he is somewhat surprised by the number of goals Erling Haaland has scored for Manchester City, with the Norwegian forward on the verge of breaking Cristiano Ronaldo's record for the fewest games required to reach 100 goals for a single club.
Haaland’s double against Brentford on Saturday, which raised his Premier League tally to nine goals in four games this season, brought his total to an astounding 99 goals in just 103 appearances for Manchester City.
Cristiano Ronaldo set the previous record while at Real Madrid, reaching his first 100 goals for the club in 105 games.
This means Haaland has just one more game to claim the outright record, with Manchester City welcoming Inter Milan to the Etihad Arena tomorrow (Wednesday) night.
If Manchester City’s No.9 finds the net in the Citizens' 2024/25 Champions League opener—a rematch of the 2022/23 final—Haaland will etch another milestone into his already impressive career.
The 24-year-old striker is already the fastest player to reach 50 Premier League goals, needing just 48 matches to achieve the feat.
He also holds the record for the most goals in a single Premier League season during his debut campaign with Manchester City, scoring 36 goals in 35 appearances and surpassing the previous record of 34 held by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer, who each set the mark in 42-game seasons.
Before joining Manchester City in 2022, Guardiola was well aware of Erling Haaland's potential.
Despite having seen the Norwegian score 86 goals in 89 games during his time in Germany, Manchester City’s manager still remains surprised by Haaland's extraordinary impact since his switch to the Premier League champions.
“A little bit, yes,” said Guardiola when asked if he was surprised at the number of goals Haaland is scoring.
"I played 11 years as a professional, as a football player, I scored 11 goals This guy, in four games, scored nine. So in one more game he can equal me. So you can imagine that I'm surprised."
Despite Haaland seemingly in unstoppable form right now, Guardiola was quick to warn that teams will eventually figure out a way to stop him scoring countless goals every game.
"The opponents will find a solution, and we have to find a solution to beat them, to find a way,” headded.
Following their game against Inter Milan, City will face ŠK Slovan Bratislava, Sparta Praha, Sporting CP, Feyenoord, Juventus, Paris Saint Germain and Club Brugge over the coming months in this season’s revamped Champions League.
