Manchester City have only had a handful of players on international duty during the latest break.
Manchester City had several stars called up by their national teams, but a number pulled out due to poor fitness.
Matheus Nunes, Manuel Akanji, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku and Nathan Ake all saw no minutes for their respective countries, as they bid to get fit again for Manchester City’s big game with Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League this weekend.
City are seeking to get things back on track after losing their last four games.
It’ll be important for City to improve defensively, but it would also be good to see some other players get on the scoresheet other than Erling Haaland.
Haaland has been in ridiculous goalscoring form this season, and that continued last night for Norway.
Norwegian outlet lauds Erling Haaland after hat-trick vs Kazakhstan
Norway finished as winners of their Nations League group last night after a resounding 5-0 victory over Kazakhstan.
And it was City’s number nine who was the star of the show.
Haaland scored against Slovenia to surpass Diego Maradona’s international goals tally, and it didn’t take him long to get on the scoresheet last night against Kazakhstan.
He gave Norway the lead after 23 minutes, following in a shot that was saved by goalkeeper Stas Pokatilov.
He got his second on 37 minutes with a brilliant head into the far corner.
Haaland completed his hat-trick on 71 minutes, taking the ball on the half-turn on the edge of the area, making space with a brilliant touch to his right before finishing with his weak foot into the bottom corner.
It was a top showing from City’s deadly marksman, and he came in for high praise from Nettavisen after the game.
The Norwegian outlet gave him a 7/10 for his performance, saying: “New hat trick and new monster match by Norway’s captain.
“Merciless when he got the chance with his right foot before half-time, before he stiffened off his neck and headed in his second soon after.
“Good in the build-up and combination phases, and recorded another hat trick after the break when he sent a ground creeper into the left corner with his right foot. 38 international goals in 39 international matches are absurd numbers.”
Haaland is truly scary
Many will no doubt downplay Haaland’s hat-trick as it ‘only came’ against Kazakhstan. But it’s still a brilliant achievement if you actually see how well he took his goals.
He will obviously face far tougher opposition this season, but Haaland’s goalscoring prowess is simply out of this world.
| Haaland for Man City (2022-present) | Haaland for Norway (2019-present) |
| Appearances – 114 | Appearances – 39 |
| Goals – 105 | Goals – 38 |
| Assists – 14 | Assists – 4 |
Haaland now has 25 hat-tricks which is one more than his age, and the superstar is posting Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi kind of numbers.
It is scary to think of how many goals he could score in his career if he is able to keep himself free from major injuries.
Given his mentality, you would not bet against him having a goal tally that is somewhere near Messi and Ronaldo’s.
