Pep Guardiola was full of praise for Erling Haaland after Manchester City’s 4-1 victory over Southampton, hailing the Norway striker’s “amazing” goal. The 20-year-old scored a sublime bicycle kick to put the Citizens 3-1 up in the second half, and Guardiola believes he is now at the same level as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“It was an amazing goal,” said Guardiola. “It was a special goal, it was a special moment. He is at the level of Messi and Ronaldo. He is so young and he has a lot of things to improve, but he’s already at a very high level.”
The City boss also praised his side’s performance, saying they had been “fantastic” throughout the game. He said: “We played really well from the beginning. We created chances, we defended well, we were aggressive and we were clinical in front of goal. We were fantastic.”
Haaland’s goal was the highlight of the match, but City had already taken the lead through Raheem Sterling’s early strike, and added to their advantage with a penalty from Ilkay Gundogan. Southampton pulled one back through Nathan Redmond, but Haaland’s wonder strike put the result beyond doubt.
The win means Manchester City are now just one point behind leaders Manchester United, and Guardiola believes his side can still challenge for the title. He said: “We have to keep going, keep fighting and keep believing in ourselves. We have to keep improving and keep getting better. We can still challenge for the title.”
Manchester City fans can watch highlights of the match on Match of the Day, which will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Saturday 8 April at 22:30 BST. The show is available to UK users only.