Haaland: “I’m a zombie, they’re shocked when I don’t score”

Erling Haaland has already scored 44 Premier League goals in just 42 appearances (1.05 goals per game) for Manchester City since joining the Etihad in the summer of 2022 and speaking to the Telegraph he referred to Pep Guardiola, the Champions League and his love for goal.

The Norwegian star, who celebrated the treble in his first year with the Citizens, is gone 216 goals to break Alan Shearer’s record (in 441 games).

“How long is my contract? Three years and ten months? Well, there’s still time for that, isn’t there?” said the Norwegian striker, adding: “You can’t think about that. You have to think about the next game, the season and everything that comes next. But if I stay in England for another 15 years, why not? We will see.

“People are more shocked now when I don’t score than when I do.” The NCampaign media, if I don’t score a goal, will be: “No goal.” It’s good, I’m not complaining at all, but I also went to City to score. So it was a little bit expected, maybe not so much, but I’m still the one who’s going to put the ball in the net.

I am a zombie. In games where I don’t get the ball, people judge me. I can fall and touch the ball, but I’m just walking, standing there, going through the motions of my own world, and that’s hard to explain. I leave my body and become a zombie. It’s like looking around and waiting for an opportunity. And when the opportunity presents itself, I know I have to be ready.

I feel like the opponents are doing more to slow me down by pushing more players on me, but I don’t mind. It’s more of a challenge and if they can do that it means there’s room for my teammates elsewhere. So easy. I’m just trying to do my job and keep doing the same thing I did last season.

I came here to win the Champions League. I said it. We made it. We won the treble. I think I changed the way City played a little bit.

It’s not easy working with Pep because he’s so demanding. I came here with a positive attitude and full of positive energy to put the icing on the cake for Manchester City, who have been so close to winning the Champions League for a long time.

They had previously won the Premier League so I didn’t have to do much there, although I did manage a lot in the end (36 goals). I came here to give them that little extra push to become the best team in the world.

And the pressure was great. I came to a new country, all eyes were on me and people said: “Can he do it in the first year?”, “He needs time” and things like that, but I showed that I can jump in and deliver straight away, and that’s exactly what I did. There was a lot of pressure, but I like it.”