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Pep Guardiola benched Haaland despite his bitter Manchester City debut

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Pep Guardiola benched Haaland despite his bitter Manchester City debut

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It wasn’t his best debut. With mistakes and a wasted opportunity in the end. Photo: Reuters

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The Manchester City lost 3-1 to Liverpool at the end of Community Shield. And Jürgen Klopp, with this match, became the coach who beat Pep Guardiola several times: 10 wins in 25 games.

In this context, the team financed and managed by an Emirati-owned fund was able to present two of its brand new reinforcements in the official competition. On the one hand, Julian Alvarezwho in just 12 minutes scored the only goal for his team.

And, on the other, Erling Haland, which started from the beginning but had a lackluster encounter. The Norwegian tank for which the citizens They paid more than 50 million euros, he had various scoring situations but could not exploit them.

Haaland's bitter debut with Manchester City Photo: Reuters

Haaland’s bitter debut with Manchester City Photo: Reuters

Furthermore, in the 52nd minute of play, when Klopp’s men were 3-1, the striker wasted an unusual opportunity. The former Borussia Dortmund took advantage of a rebound that goalkeeper Adrián gave him and, with an empty net, appealed to a bomb that hit the crossbar and went out. A night to forget.

His performance takes on more resonance than the performance of Julian Alvarez, who was a substitute, entered and scored. Finally, Liverpool won thanks to goals from Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Darwin Núñez and were crowned champions at the King Power Stadium.

However, Pep Guardiola benched his 22-year-old forward at the post-match press conference. The Catalan coach described his performance as “very good” despite the defeat. And then he said: “he had chances, today he couldn’t convert, but he’s an exceptional player”.

Guardiola highlighted the presence of the Norwegian footballer. Of course, being in the box is also important even if you can’t convert. “It’s good for him to see the reality in a new country and a new league, but he was there. He didn’t score. He has an incredible quality and he will do it. He had chances, two or three in the first half and one at the end. He fought hard and made the moves“, He added.

In this sense, the former coach of the Barcelona Y Bayern Monaco highlighted the friendly views earlier this month in which Erling Haland was highly praised.

“When Haaland scored in the United States, everyone talked about how impressive he was,” said the Spaniard. “She was there and she had the opportunities, nothing changes. He’s strong. He will once again put it in the net. It’s football “, he concluded.

It is clear, the Norwegian’s debut was not the best. He lacked efficiency and was disconnected from his teammates. It certainly wasn’t what was expected of him. But the striker, who has just screamed 85 times in 88 games for Dortmund, has material to shine in Guardiola’s Manchester City. Time will tell if hiring him was a success or not. At the moment he has the full support of the Spanish manager.

Source: Clarin

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