Spanish coach Pep Guardiola humorously compared his own scoring record as a player to that of Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, expressing his amazement at Haaland's prolific goal-scoring form with Manchester City.
Guardiola, who now manages Haaland at Manchester City, regularly praises his Norwegian star, who has topped the Premier League's goal-scoring charts for the past two seasons.
Haaland's start to the 2024-25 Premier League season has been remarkable, as he has netted 9 goals in just the first four matches, giving him a comfortable lead in the top scorer race, with a gap of 6 goals over his nearest competitor.
During a press conference ahead of City's upcoming Champions League match against Inter Milan, Guardiola joked, "I played for 11 years and scored 11 goals... This guy scored 9 goals in just 4 matches."
Haaland is expected to lead the attack for Manchester City against Inter Milan in their first match of the Champions League's new "league stage" format.
Manchester City, who won their first Champions League title in the 2022-23 season by defeating Inter Milan 1-0 in the final, are eager to begin their campaign in the 2024-25 season with a strong performance.
The group stage draw for this season placed Manchester City in a competitive pool alongside Inter Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Club Brugge, Juventus, Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, Sparta Prague, and Slovan Bratislava.
City will play home matches at the Etihad against Inter Milan, Club Brugge, Feyenoord, and Sparta Prague, while they will face Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, Sporting Lisbon, and Slovan Bratislava in away games.
Who is the all-time top scorer in the UEFA Champions League?
The all-time top scorer in the history of the Champions League is Cristiano Ronaldo, the legendary player who now represents Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia. Ronaldo, who has also played for Real Madrid, Juventus, and Manchester United, has scored 140 goals in the competition.
In second place on the list of Champions League top scorers is Lionel Messi, the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain star, with 129 goals.