Spaniard Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City, sarcastically commented on the replacement of his Norwegian top scorer Erling Haaland to his guest Burnley (6-0) in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Did Haaland prevent Messi from breaking the number?.. Interesting statements by Guardiola about his replacement
Haaland scored three consecutive hat-tricks for City in the 32nd, 35th and 59th minutes of the game that brought them together last night, Saturday, before Guardiola replaced him in the 64th minute.
It comes just four days after the Norwegian five-pointer scored a goal against his guest Leipzig (7-0) on Tuesday evening at the Al-Ittihad Stadium in the first leg of the 16th round of the European Champions League in football.
As soon as Haaland scored his fifth goal of the match, Pep Guardiola took the unexpected step of replacing him after about 6 minutes, especially in the 63rd minute, when he was at the peak of his brilliance, to the displeasure of the player and fans. in the same time.
Guardiola has been accused of replacing the Norwegian striker against Leipzig to defend the record of his former star Lionel Messi.
The decision was interpreted by some as the Spanish manager’s unwillingness for Haaland to surpass Argentine legend Lionel Messi, who scored a similar five against Bayer Leverkusen under him in Barcelona in 2012.
When asked about the secret of replacing Haaland during the match against Burnley, Guardiola replied caustically: “So that he does not break Messi’s number!”
And about Haaland’s brilliance and the fact that he scored 8 goals in two matches, the Spaniard commented: “Unbelievable! I played at Barcelona for 11 years and only scored 11 goals.”
Source: agencies