Erling Haaland fell short of breaking Cristiano Ronaldo’s record for the fewest games needed to score 100 goals for one club. The Norwegian striker entered Wednesday’s match against Inter with 99 goals in 103 games, hoping to surpass Ronaldo’s achievement of reaching the century mark in 105 matches for Real Madrid.
Unfortunately, Haaland was unable to find the back of the net, leaving him with only a chance to equal Ronaldo’s record. He will need to score in Sunday’s Premier League clash with Arsenal, which will be his 105th appearance for Manchester City if he wants to match the Portuguese legend’s feat.
Following the goalless draw against Inter, manager Pep Guardiola came to Haaland’s defense. He acknowledged that Inter did an excellent job of marking and neutralizing Haaland throughout the game.
Guardiola explained, “There were six players around him – three behind and three in front. That’s how they kept him out of the game. [Francesco] Acerbi, [Alessandro] Bastoni were five meters away from him, [Hakan] Calhanoglou and [Piotr] Zielinski in front of him. That’s tough.”
Despite their efforts to create space and opportunities for other players like Ilkay Gundogan, Guardiola admitted that Inter was physically stronger than his team. To counter this defensive strategy by Inter, Guardiola made adjustments by bringing more players up alongside Erling Haaland.
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