Erling Haaland, Manchester City's relentless goal scorer, wrote the customary celebratory tweet with the hashtag "Hungry for more!" after scoring a first-half brace against FC Copenhagen in the Champions League group stage.
Haaland's City colleague Aymeric Laporte responded by sending a screenshot of a petition to the UK government asking for Erling Haaland to be suspended from football for "being a robot." Laporte wasn't the only one to question the striker's biological make-up; during the game, struggling Copenhagen goalkeeper Kamil Grabara informed Jack Grealish, "This guy is not human." "Dude, I know, you're telling me," Grealish shrugged.
Notwithstanding the awe and amazement that Haaland's goal-scoring prowess has generated among his fellow professionals, the claim that he hurts City more than he helps them continues. Pep Guardiola obviously disagrees with this assumption based on how frequently he uses the 22-year-old goal-fiend.
Yet, Haaland missed enough City contests during his first season in Manchester to have a rough idea of how Guardiola's team may have done had Laporte been able to get past the red tape of the British government.
City, the defending Premier League winners, have won 25 of their last 37 games (68%) with Haaland at the front of their attack. City has had a higher victory percentage each of the previous five seasons (with a low of 69% in 2019–20 and a high of 82% in 2017–18).
Guardiola's team is still in the running for three big awards, and Haaland has performed admirably in all three of them. The number nine for City is the highest scorer in both the Champions League this season and the Premier League, having scored more goals than seven different teams. Haaland is behind Paul Mullins of Wrexham in terms of FA Cup goals, but he has at least a semi-final matchup with Championship team Sheffield United to add to his total.
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