Why I ‘Denied’ Haaland Double Hattrick Chance Against Leipzig – Guardriola

Pep Guardiola provided an explanation for his decision to prevent Erling Haaland from registering a double hat-trick for Manchester City in the Champions League.

The Norwegian forward scored five goals in Manchester City’s 7-0 victory over RB Leipzig in the Champions League to advance the team to the quarterfinals.

READ ALSO: Haaland Moves Above Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappe After Scoring FIVE!

He joined Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano as the third player to score five goals in a Champions League match. Messi did so for Barcelona against Bayer Leverkusen (for Shakhtar Donetsk against Bate Borisov).

Guardiola, though, substituted Julian Alvarez for him in the 63rd minute, preventing the striker from going for a historic second hat-trick.

When quizzed about the substitution after the match, Guardiola said: “If he achieves this milestone at 22, 23, it will be boring his life. He wouldn’t have a target to reach in the future. Here and everywhere. That’s why I make a substitution.

“I didn’t know about Messi with Leverkusen (when he scored five against them in 2012), but I make a substitution because normally when the game is over we want them to play.

“He scored five goals. The problem is every time we don’t score two or three he will be criticised. This is the reality.”

Haaland was lauded by Guardiola for contributing defensively and for his movement on the field, which allowed him to become more involved in the game. “Today he scored five goals but made 30-35 ball contacts,” he continued. What we’re looking for is this. When you’re playing defense in a game, when the ball is coming in to score goals, you’re smarter and more accurate. Gundogan is capable of scoring goals. Sometimes he causes it, other times he doesn’t do anything.

“For example at Crystal Palace he didn’t move, I said ‘you didn’t play good today’. Other days it is our fault, like in Leipzig we didn’t find him. Sooner or later we’re working a bit, everyone we try to make the process quicker.

“Once we break the holding midfielder we have to be quicker. People think it depends on the line-up we’ll play slowly, comfortable. The mentality is always been so so aggressive. Sometimes we cannot do it because the opponent is there.”

After an outstanding showing in the Champions League, Haaland and City will turn their attention to a matchup against Burnley in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Saturday.