Southampton [United Kingdom], March 9 : Manchester City kept their title hopes alive after putting four goals past Southampton on Saturday night at Saint Mary's Stadium in the Premier League.
Erling Haaland struck twice in the game to put the Blues in a comfortable position. Haaland's acrobatic skills were on display as he struck an overhead kick to secure his second goal of the match. The 22-year-old Norwegian goal-scoring machine scored his 30th goal in the Premier League and still, there are 9 games more to go.
"Erling is here for these types of games. He has a big heart and he was on the end of the assist from Kevin [De Bruyne]. His ability is incredible," said Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola in the post-match conference.
For the past three seasons, Haaland has left his mark all over Europe with his incredible goal-scoring rate. As the Messi-Ronaldo era is about to pass away within a few more seasons, the likes of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbapper are bound to take their place and become Europe's most feared strikers.
"Erling knows the other two guys dominated in two decades - not just one or two years, two decades, scoring and winning titles and doing absolutely everything. I think football is a better place mainly thanks to Cristiano and Messi. For our business, the attraction of these two guys competing helped us. Erling is just 22-23 years old, arriving in the toughest league in the world - I can talk because I've been in other leagues - and doing it is remarkable," Guardiola said.
Even though the scoreboard serves as a reflection of Manchester City's dominance over Southampton, in reality, Southampton managed to put up a fight against the title defenders. They had a few moments in the game which opened up the way to punish City. But the lack of sharpness in the attacking front of the pitch took away their chances of putting up a goal on the scoreboard.
"I would not say we were bad but I give a lot of credit to Southampton, their game plan was brilliant. We adjusted something in the first half and started the second really well and started much better. If it was 0-0 it would've been completely different. But, our game second half was much better." Guardiola continued.
Manchester City will host Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.
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