Manchester City have just won the treble with a historic victory against Inter Milan in the Champions League final.
However, it wasn’t a vintage performance from Pep Guardiola’s side in the final.
Indeed, the Premier League champions weren’t at their best on Saturday night.
Sadly, despite winning a treble, City’s crowning performance wasn’t the best, and that has led to some pundits, inexplicably, picking holes in this team, and, for some bizarre reason, Erling Haaland has become a target for criticism.
The Norwegian striker may have scored 52 goals this season, but that hasn’t stopped some from having a dig at him after this final.
Speaking on ESPN, Steve Nicol was quite critical of Haaland, stating that the striker barely had a kick during the game.
Haaland wasn’t at it
Nicol gave his verdict on the £51m attacker.
“In the biggest moment in the history of the football club it was arguably one of their worst performances at this level. City played as poorly as they have for a long time. You have to give Inter credit for the way they harassed and pressed, and Haaland never had a kick, he literally never had a kick, he had that one strike,” Nicol said.
Could’ve done better
Look, it’s incredibly harsh to criticise any player after they’ve just won a treble, but even the most hardened City fan would have to admit that Erling Haaland wasn’t at his best last night.
Inter Milan did a great job of stifling the big man up top, and they deserve a lot of credit for managing to shackle Haaland.
The Norwegian has scored 52 goals this season for a reason – because he’s one of the very best players in the world, but sadly, when you’re that good, you’re going to be targeted.
Inter’s gameplan was clearly centred around stopping Haaland, and while they managed to keep him out, they couldn’t stop City’s march to the treble.
Say what you will about Saturday’s performance, but Haaland has more than played his part in City’s success this season, and while it’s fair to pick holes in his performance against Inter, we mustn’t forget just how brilliant he has been this season.
