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Erling Haaland admits he will “keep on missing chances” even as he rewrites Manchester City’s record books but insists he will shut out the critics as he targets perfection.
The prolific Norwegian has scored a staggering 80 goals in just 84 games since joining City in 2022, winning the treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup in his first season at the club.
He already has 28 goals in all competitions in the current campaign, though he endured a relative drought earlier this season, failing to score in six out of seven games.
Haaland, who missed most of December and January with a foot injury, netted the final goal in City’s 3-1 win against Manchester United on Sunday — but only after an astonishing miss on the stroke of half-time.
“I’ve been missing,” he said Tuesday, on the eve of the second leg of City’s Champions League last-16 tie against Copenhagen, with City 3-1 up after the first leg.
“I miss a lot of chances. I will still keep on missing chances, I will still score goals so I’ll probably miss a big chance in the future as well and people are going to criticise me and what can I do then?
“Should I think of that? No. I should focus on scoring more goals and helping the team.”
The 23-year-old admitted he still has room for improvement despite his phenomenal numbers.
“There’s a lot of things I can become better at, everything by the way,” he said.
“People say I’m good at scoring goals but I missed the biggest chance in the world ever two days ago so I can also become better at that.”
The Norwegian said he had worked on the mental side of his game but admitted it was tough to cope with lean spells.
“It’s with everything in life — if you over-think something, it’s not good, if you stress in your life it’s not good,” he said.
“My focus is to become the best possible version of myself and the main thing then is the mental part.”
Haaland was asked at Tuesday’s press conference whether he was happy in Manchester after speculation linking him with a move to Real Madrid.
“I’m really happy, especially with the people that I’m surrounded with, the manager, the directors, the board,” he said.
“They are a group of amazing people and I’m really happy.
“If I say this now there’s probably going to be a massive headline tomorrow — ‘you never know what the future brings’ — but again, I’m happy.”
Haaland said he was concentrating on upcoming matches rather than thinking about a contract as City attempt to repeat their trophy treble.
“My focus mainly now is on the pitch,” he said. “There’s a lot of games.
“Two days ago it was a Manchester derby and now it’s Champions League and next Sunday it’s Liverpool so I think I should focus on that and not anything else at the moment.”
