Leeds-born Erling Haaland says it was a ‘crazy fantasy’ that he scored for Manchester City against Leeds United at Elland Road on Wednesday night, as he told Amazon Prime Sport.
The Norway striker netted a brace against Jesse Marsch’s side, with Leeds suffering a 3-1 defeat to the English champions and Haaland describing the moment as ‘really special’.
Erling Haalan’s father – Alfie Haaland – played for both Leeds and Man City during his Premier League career, whilst the Premier League record-breaker was also coached by Jesse Marsch at RB Salzburg.
Back then, Marsch would have seen the raw but brute goalscoring nature of Haaland’s game, as he became the quickest man to 20 Premier League goals (14 games).
The next best is former Sunderland star, Kevin Phillips, who took 21 matches. Spain star Fernando Torres reached his 20 goals from 27 games for Liverpool, Alan Shearer did it in 29, Sergio Aguero took one game extra, with north London duo Thierry Henry (34) and Harry Kane (40) then making up the rest of the list.
Nonetheless, after scoring a brace against Leeds, Haaland was asked about playing against the club of his birth and whether he has a ‘soft spot’ for them.
“Yeah, with my father and my mother over there (in the stands), it’s special,” said Haaland. “I have to say, it’s special.
“I am happy today because it’s a really special moment in my career. When I was young, I had a jersey of Eirik Bakke in my room and also a Man City jersey of my father, so it’s really weird. It’s in my crazy fantasy how I could think of this and be at Elland Road and score for Manchester City against Leeds.”
HAALAND SMASHING RECORDS
It’s not even the New Year, yet Haaland already has 20 Premier League goals to his name.
These are crazy numbers and they could yet become even wilder because there is the chance he scores 40+ this season.
It’s not just the bonkers numbers that Haaland is putting up, it’s how he is well and truly smashing records by making extraordinary feats of the past now look average.
What’s even bonkers is that he should have scored more against Leeds and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he does score five goals in one game this season, you just don’t want to be the team on the back end of that.
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