Erling Haaland has started his second season in English football just like his first — with two goals in a win to open Manchester City’s title defense in the Premier League.
The Norway striker dispatched clinical finishes in the fourth and 36th minutes on Friday as City eased to a 3-0 victory at Burnley, a promoted team managed by City great Vincent Kompany, in the first match of England’s top division. Defensive midfielder Rodri scored the other goal.
Guardiola was not happy about the broadcast cameras following the pair during their squabble at halftime.
He opened last season with a double at West Ham in a signal of what was to come and he made another statement at Turf Moor, even if it didn’t completely satisfy Guardiola. The City manager came onto the field at halftime and remonstrated with Haaland as they walked toward the tunnel, even flicking away a camera that was following the pair.
“We are still in the start phase of this marathon but I’m not stressing. I’m relaxed,” Haaland said. “I have to keep on developing and enjoy the chaos around me and perform on the pitch.”
“I just have to keep on working, keep relaxing and not to focus on negative things,” Haaland said.
Guardiola revealed what happened after the game.
“He wants the ball to him all the time, man to man, one on one,” he told the press.
“Give me the balls in behind and I’m going to do it’. But when you have two or three minutes left and Kovacic goes behind and we lose the ball, and Rodri loses the ball. Erling wanted that ball and Bernardo was correct not to give him that ball. It’s not an incident. It’s a connection to do exactly what we need to do. There’s no problem at all. He scored two goals, I think he’s happy,” he added.
City, which gave a debut to center-back Josko Gvardiol as a second-half substitute, next plays Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday. It’s a match between the winners of last season’s Champions League and Europa League.
[With inputs from AP]
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