Erling Haaland has sounded the death knell for Manchester City’s trophy rivals, warning: “I’m back - and ready to attack!”
The rampaging striker returned to the goal trail against Nottingham Forest at the weekend to keep City on course for a fourth consecutive title and back-to-back FA Cup triumphs.
Haaland also regained the baton in the race for the Golden Boot, within 10 minutes of appearing from the bench, with his 21st Premier League bullseye of the season. Now he is relishing City’s run-in, saying: “This is the most exciting time to be a footballer.”
City’s unconvincing win at the City Ground keeps the champions a point behind leaders Arsenal but with a critical game in hand.
Haaland said: “It doesn’t matter who scores – the most important thing is to win. I came on and tried to finish the game and that’s exactly what I did.
“It’s nice – exactly like last season. This is the maybe the most exciting time to be a footballer. There’s not many who can relate but this is why I play football – the feeling before the game, you’re a bit nervous. This is fantastic and it’s why I love football because of these feelings.
“So many of these guys have done it before and it’s about keeping the head calm and not wanting too much. We relax, smile and enjoy our time then we focus on the next game.”
Despite missing 10 games through injury either side of Christmas, and he was nursing a muscle problem earlier this month, Haaland has still managed to score 32 goals in 40 appearances across all competitions.
But the Champions League quarter-final defeat by Real Madrid still rankles, and he added: “I’m ready – I had a bit of a problem and it’s not nice to bounce back when we went out to [Real] Madrid in the Champions League.
“It’s been scratching inside of me to get back and now I’m back and feeling good. I’m ready to attack the last five finals.”
City’s other goalscorer at Forest, Josko Gvardiol, admitted Haaland’s team-mates are relieved to have him back for the title run-in and next month’s FA Cup final against Manchester United.
Gvardiol said: “We’re really happy that he’s back with us. It (only) took him 10 minutes to score – that’s what we need from Erling.”
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