Pep Guardiola has explained how Erling Haaland has managed to stay largely injury-free this season, and detailed the work that goes on behind the scenes every day.
It’s becoming difficult to keep track of the records Erling Haaland has broken at Manchester City, such has been the scale of his impact on English football this season.
The Norwegian striker is on course to break the Premier League single-season goals record of 34 having already scored 30 goals in 27 appearances.
In Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat of Bayern Munich Haaland scored his 45th goal of the season in all competitions, a new record for a Premier League player.
Haaland was always going to score goals at City, but there were some doubts that he would reach such heights if the injuries that plagued him at Borussia Dortmund followed him to Manchester.
In his final season at Dortmund Haaland missed 16 matches through injury, whereas this year he has been unavailable for just four.
Work behind the scenes
When asked what City have done to keep the 22-year-old fit, Pep Guardiola highlighted the immense amount of work that goes on behind the scenes during training and in-between matches.
“I don’t know what he has done in Dortmund, but here we take care of him 24 hours [a day],” Guardiola said.
“We have incredible physios and incredible doctors behind him in every single detail.
“It’s difficult for me to understand why [a club] would spend a lot of money with the players then leave them [to their own devices]. I don’t know what the other clubs do but I’m talking from my experience in the past.”
Times have changed
Guardiola cited the packed fixture schedules of modern football as a reason why the fitness and conditioning of footballers has advanced lightyears since his playing days.
“With this demanding schedule every three or four days, behind the players there has to be an incredible entourage to take care of them.
“It [football] is so demanding today – nutrition, rest, sleep, food, training, how much, how many minutes…there are days they cannot train more than 10, 15 minutes. Otherwise, it would be a risk.
“The people say ‘why did you substitute [Haaland] against Leipzig when he scored the goals’, or against another team. One day after Burnley game he was injured, 10 days, 15 days out. [He] could not play with Norway, could not play with us against Liverpool, because we know then he has to be like a watch.
“Because he’s so big, there has to be physios, massages, back, shoulders, his problem in his tendons.
“He [Haaland] works much, much, much, much [more] time inside of the training centre than on the [training] pitch. Much, much, much more.
“Today, in modern football, normally the players train more behind the scenes than on the pitch.”
