Erling Haaland says he is “not stressed” about his mini goal drought ahead of Manchester City’s Champions League final showdown against Inter Milan.
The Norwegian broke the Premier League record for most goals in a single season with 36. He also helped City win the FA Cup and is now just one game away from a historic treble.
But Haaland hasn’t scored in four straight games, which is the longest scoreless streak of his City career so far. He has only scored once in the last seven games.
“You can think of it as one goal in seven games or 52 goals in 52 games and eight assists, I think (he has nine),” said Haaland. “You can think of it in both ways. I’m not stressed. I feel really good.
“I didn’t expect to score this many goals but, again, I could have scored more. I’ve been missing a lot of chances, so I could have scored more. That’s the truth.”
Before Haaland moved to City from Borussia Dortmund last year, City was already the best team in English football.
But the English champions still need to win in Europe, and his signing was seen as the last piece of the puzzle that would help them win the Champions League.
“Of course I feel pressure. I would lie if I said I didn’t,” the 22-year-old said.
“You say it yourself and it’s true — they won the Premier League without me, they won every trophy without me.
“So I’m here to try to do a thing that the club has never done before and I’ll do my best.”
City is a huge favourite to beat the Italian giants in Istanbul and become only the second team to win the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League all in the same season.
Four years ago, Pep Guardiola’s team became the first English team to win the Premier League, FA Cup, and League Cup.
And Haaland doesn’t think it’s a big deal that City is close to doing what Manchester United did in 1998/99, when they won the treble.
“If you’d said this scenario before the season I wouldn’t think of it, of course,” said the Norwegian.
“But, again, when you look at the team, how close they’ve been with every single trophy every single season it’s not like it’s been not possible.
“We have been believing in ourselves ever since I came here. Just one game left.”
