Manchester City striker Erling Haaland recorded a brace in the 4-1 win over Southampton on Saturday at Saint Mary’s Stadium and manager Pep Guardiola has put the 22-year-old in elite company.
Haaland has scored 44 goals in 38 appearances this 2022-23 season for the Premier League side, leading Guardiola to say that Haaland is in the same category as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
“As a top scorer, we lived two incredible decades with Cristiano and Lionel, but Erling is on that level,” Guardiola said postgame (h/t Daily Mail).
“The second goal was amazing. It is not easy to pick the ball up in the sky and put it on the grass. His talent is really good. We need him. The first half was not our best level, but he changed the game.”
Guardiola is familiar with those two football legends as the Spanish tactician had Messin during his managerial time at FC Barcelona and he had to coach against Ronaldo when the Portuguese star was at Real Madrid.
Haaland is well on his way, if he isn’t already, to be one of the players that take the baton from Messi and Ronaldo as the best footballer in the world.
The Norway international will have competition for the title as Messi’s current teammate at Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappé has his eyes on being the best in the world.
