Pep Guardiola brands ‘record-breaking’ Haaland a joy to work with

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By Martin Graham | 5th May 2023

Pep Guardiola has heaped praise on record-breaking Erling Haaland , after the City striker further wrote down his name in the history books by breaking the all-time Premier League goal scoring record for a season in City’s Wednesday 3-0 win over West Ham.

Haaland’s brilliant chip midway through the second half, doubled City’s lead after Nathan Ake’s header opener. That strike took it up to 35 league goals for the season for Haaland, meaning he has now surpassed the long-standing record of 34 shared by Alan Shearer and Andrew Cole.

Away from Haaland, it was a night of special landmarks at the Etihad as Phil Foden’s spectacular late effort also meant City had now scored 1000 goals under Pep Guardiola.

51 of those goals are courtesy of Haaland in his stunning debut season at City, with the 22-year-old given a special guard of honour at full time by staff and colleagues in honour of his latest amazing record.

Guardiola hails record-breaker Erling Haaland

As we have seen many times this season, Guardiola was full of praise for the Norwegian forward. Speaking after the game, he said: “He deserved it (the guard of honour), said Pep. “All the team deserved it. Erling is a special striker. Yes, we are very pleased for him. He’s a joy to work and to be with him.

“Everyone is happy to have him with us. This record will be broken again. Maybe by him in the future or by another one. But he will score a lot of goals.

“When there is a special occasion, we have to show how special it is.”

“He has beaten incredible top strikers – Shearer and Cole. It’s special.

“At the end when you buy a player, with Erling we knew he scored everywhere.

“We had to start to work, see the process, see him understand what we do, the players understand his movement, so it was a question of time, but how he adjusted, it was so quick.

“His first goals were against West Ham. He broke the record against West Ham.

“When you provide him with chances, he scores in all situations.

“Penalties. Crosses. Combinations. Transitions. He can do many, many things.

“That’s why he scored a lot of goals.

“I have the feeling he wants to score goals because of his mentality.

With the win over West Ham, City moved back to the top of the Premier League 2022-23 table and would hope to keep their momentum when they take on Leeds at the weekend.