Perhaps the most startling thing about Erling Haaland’s first year in England, other than the unfathomable amount of records he has accrued in less than 12 months, is that it hasn’t always been clear if he is even trying.
Sportspeople of his ilk have that aura about them. Think Roger Federer’s backhand. Usain Bolt’s stride in the last 10 metres. Michael Phelps gliding through the water. Haaland scoring goals. Such artforms all come naturally.
While the Nordic superhuman’s early audition to be recognised in the pantheon of sporting greats has gone to plan, the reason we remember the Federer backhand or the Bolt stride is because they helped bring about untold honours on the grandest of stages, time and again.
In the years to come, a record 52 goals in a single season will not be quite as memorable if Haaland does not help Manchester City achieve the sole purpose he was bought for.
“Of course I feel pressure,” says Haaland. “I would lie if I said I didn’t. 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.”
He is not wrong. City were doing more than fine without Haaland, or a recognised striker of any description for that matter.
Last season, Pep Guardiola’s juggernaut stormed to a fourth league title in five years, amassing four more points and scoring five more goals than they did in the Haaland-fronted following campaign.
But that missing piece loomed ever larger, even as domestic dominance continued at an alarming and effortless rate.
Guardiola has never won the Champions League without Lionel Messi in his team. City have won everything-but in the Sheikh Mansour era of superiority. The majority of the team and the manager remain the same. Haaland’s task, therefore, was to make the near-flawless perfect.
The script has been followed without the need for even a second take. Just one more game to go. A Double is old news, but a Treble? That would be quite something for a debut campaign.
“I told Jack [Grealish] sometimes players need maybe a year or something to come into the new league and new team and sometimes players come directly in and perform,” a jovial Haaland, far too relaxed given what is at stake, continues.
“I told him this. In the Community Shield I missed a couple of big chances. It can happen, it will happen again. What can you do?
“We have to focus on the next thing and that’s what I did. I scored two goals in the next game, so it was still not a bad start.
“I didn’t expect to score this many goals but I could have scored more. I’ve been missing a lot of chances, so I could have scored more. That’s the truth.”
Given it is City and the lingering scepticism over the origins of their rebirth as a footballing superpower is not going away, there are plenty who want Haaland to fail.
One goal in seven games coming into tonight’s final against Inter Milan is hardly ideal preparation and has given those of a schadenfreude persuasion hope that he and City may not in fact get over the line.
Confidence, like goals, is not in short supply, however. Whatever way you look at it, Italy’s third best team are going to have to pull off something remarkable to stop City, and their irrepressible marksman, from completing the job in Istanbul and ensuring those 52 strikes really do stand the test of time.
“You can think of it as one goal in seven games or 52 goals in 52 games and eight assists, I think,” Haaland adds. “You can think of it in both ways. I’m not stressed. I feel really good.
“Often it’s a good thing when people start criticising you. I scored every single game and then people started criticising me. That’s what happened, basically.
“When people criticise you it’s normally a good thing, it’s just about trying to smile a bit and enjoy life.
“If you’d said this scenario before the season I wouldn’t think it was possible, of course.
“But it is.”
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