Erling Haaland has admitted that Manchester City signed him with the primary objective of winning the Champions League, after his five-goal haul in Tuesday's 7-0 thrashing of RB Leipzig secured their place in the quarter-finals. The 22-year-old's quintet at the Etihad Stadium took his season tally to a club-record 39 goals, and he is aware that the pursuit of a first European crown is why Pep Guardiola brought him in last summer.
“Of course the club want to win the Champions League, they want to still win trophies,” Haaland said. “They won the Premier League four times out of the last five years so they didn’t bring me in to win the Premier League – they know how to win the Premier League. So you can read between the lines. But I’m here to try to help the club develop even more, to try to win the Champions League for the first time.”
Despite his 33 Champions League goals in 25 appearances making him the youngest to reach 30 in the competition, Haaland believes he can improve further. “There is so much potential in this team and I think still we can improve a lot in the game, how we play,” he told CBS Sports Golazo. “It’s an easy thing to say but I could’ve scored more goals. I missed a lot of chances. But the most important thing is the chances [coming] because that is what you want as a striker.”
Haaland, who scored 86 times in 89 appearances for Borussia Dortmund, never doubted he would continue his prolific form at City. “I knew I was going to score goals because last season how many goals did City score [99]? So to be a striker in this team … When I saw them last season without a striker I was thinking when they were crossing the ball in: ‘Ah, I’d love to be there!’ I knew I would score a lot of goals.”
He described the win over Leipzig as a “kind of statement” in the Champions League but is far from satisfied, with attention now turning to Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final at home to Burnley. “I think I always have to look for the next thing and try to always reach for more and stay hungry, because maybe someone if they scored five goals would be happy; you have to be happy but you have to want more.”
