Sports

UCL: Why I subbed off Haaland before he could break Messi’s record – Guardiola

Published

2 years ago

March 15, 2023

Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola has explained why he took off Erling Haaland after he scored five times against RB Leipzig on Tuesday night.

The 22-year-old was in a killer mood in front of goal as City hammered the Bundesliga side 7-0 in the Champions League last-16 second leg.

By the end of the first half, Haaland had completed his hat-trick at the Etihad.

Haaland scored twice after the break and was eyeing a double hat-trick, which would have broken a record long held by Lionel Messi, before Guardiola took him off.

“I told [Guardiola] I would love to score a double hat trick, but what can I do?,” Haaland said on being substituted, before he could become the first player to ever score six goals in a single Champions League game.

After the match Guardiola gave his reasons for taking off the Norwegian when he did, saying: “If he achieves this milestone at 22, his life would be boring. He has something to aim for.”

Sports

EPL: Can’t cry about it — Arteta on Arsenal’s 1-1 draw at Fulham

Published

4 days ago

December 8, 2024

Seyi Babalola

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has said they cannot “cry about” the 1-1 draw at Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday.

Arteta, however, insisted his team deserved to take all three points.

Raul Jimenez opened the scoring for the hosts in the first half before William Saliba levelled in the 52nd minute.

Speaking after the match, Arteta said: “Gutted that we didn’t win it. We fully deserved to win it. That’s the quality of the opposition, so you cannot cry about it. We generated all the chances but it’s so difficult to attack.”

Arsenal had 70 per cent possession and VAR denied Bukayo Saka what would have been a late winner.

Sports

EPL: ‘We started badly’ – Amorim on Man Utd’s 3-2 loss to Nottingham Forest

Published

5 days ago

December 7, 2024

Seyi Babalola

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has admitted his team did not do enough to beat Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday.

The Red Devils suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time under Amorim, losing 3-2 to Nuno Espirito Santo’s men.

Goals from Nikola Milenkovic, Morgan Gibbs-White and Chris Wood moved Forest up to fifth place, with Rasmus Hojlund and Bruno Fernandes getting on the scoresheet for United.

The result leaves United in 13th place, 10 points above relegation places.

Amorim, speaking with BBC Sport, said: “Tough game. We started really bad. The first play we suffered a goal and then it’s hard to try to fight. We then controlled the game and had a lot of situations.

“We improved the movement in the last third. We managed to draw the game and then, at halftime, we were ready to go for the win and then started really bad. Two goals. Then we tried a lot of things with not a lot of quality.

“We didn’t have many situations to score. Tough game in a tough moment but we have to continue the job.”