Guardiola talks about Haaland’s poor performance in the game against Real Madrid
Manchester City coach explains that the Norwegian has a lot to improve, but prefers to highlight the collective
Erling Haaland has only scored one goal in the last seven games and was again blank in the duel between Manchester City and Real Madrid , at the Bernabéu, where he didn’t even manage to participate much in the game.
Pep Guardiola explains that the Norwegian still has a lot to improve, but points to the difficulty of the match, as well as the quality of the opposing defenders: «He’s a young player. He has to improve in some departments. He’s more about the team. It’s the most difficult position on the field. They were very close together and are very good defenders. Real Madrid had two central defenders very close to him and it’s not easy. We scored three goals.”
Asked about what the striker has to do more to win the Ballon d’Or, the Spaniard stated that this is not his main objective: «Playing more minutes and learning what you have to do, but the objective is not to win the Ballon d’Or. Gold is winning the Premier League , the Champions League and the FA Cup . And he did it, without him it wouldn’t have been possible. All players can improve before they retire.”
The former Barcelona player also reacted to Rodri ‘s statements , who admitted that he needed to rest after many consecutive games: «If he needs to rest, he will rest. It’s a case of mental energy. If a player doesn’t want to play then he won’t play. If he is exhausted, it could happen and someone else will play. We will decide tomorrow what we have to do.”
Finally, he once again criticized the calendar and the many injuries suffered this season, revealing that Ederson was fit to return to the pitch in the game against Los Merengues , but that it was a technical option to give Ortega the starting job : «Absolutely. It’s completely correct, it’s getting worse and worse and worse. We have training this afternoon and we will know better how they feel. Ederson was ready to play with Real Madrid. It is ready for tomorrow and we will decide for several reasons. »
