The Premier League’s leading goal-scorer has opened up on how it felt watching other players score at the World Cup while Erling Haaland could do little more than watch on from home
Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland has admitted that watching other players score goals at the World Cup while he was sat at home has only motivated him more for the rest of the season.
A Norway international, Haaland’s country fell short of qualifiying for the tournament and as a result the 22-year-old could do little more than keep his fitness up and watch the action unfold on television – something that clearly irked him.
Worryingly for Premier League defenders, Haaland has seemingly returned to club matters playing like he has a point to prove. The striker has bagged three goals in his first two games back in City colours: one against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup and two against Leeds in the league.
The brace against Jesse Marsch’s men was particularly impressive and put significant daylight between City and their opponents during the 3-1 victory away from home.
After the game, Haaland opened up on his frustrations at not participating in the World Cup and refused to comment on what his target for the amount of goals scored this season is, with the former Borussia Dortmund man sensationally already sitting on 20 in just 14 league games.
“I have a target but I cannot say it. I just said inside the dressing room that I could have scored five but the most important thing is that we won,” he told Amazon Prime.
“We have to hunt Arsenal. I could have scored a couple more but that’s life and I have to train more. I’ve been at home, a bit mad that I’ve not been at the World Cup. I recharged my batteries.
“Watching other people score to win games at the World Cup triggered, motivated and irritated me. I’m more hungry than ever.”
Haaland’s first game at Elland Road was always going to come with the side story of the fact that it was his father, Alf-Inge Haaland’s old stomping ground.
The City striker’s father spent three years as a Leeds player and made more than 70 appearances, helping the club qualify for the Champions League during the 1999/2000 season.
His son opened up on how it felt to grace the same turf as his dad, albeit in a City shirt instead of a Leeds one.
“My father and mother were on the tribune today,” Haaland added. “It’s special. I’m happy – it’s a special moment in my career.
“When I was young, I had an Eirik Bakke shirt in my room and a jersey of my father. It’s crazy – it was a fantasy of mine to score at Elland Road for City.”
Source: mirror.com
