Manchester City: Pep Guardiola compares free-scoring Erling Haaland to Lionel Messi

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has compared Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi, discussing a key difference between arguably the two finest forwards he's ever coached.

As City beat Manchester United 6-3 in Sunday's derby at the Etihad Stadium, Haaland became the first player to score a hat-trick in three successive home Premier League games (Phil Foden also got a hat-trick on an historic afternoon for City).

And the prolific Norwegian's record-breaking start to his City career has – inevitably – prompted comparisons with Messi – who enjoyed four goal-laden years under Guardiola at Barcelona. 

When asked after Sunday's victory whether he saw some of Messi's goalscoring inevitability in Haaland, Guardiola said:

"The difference is that Erling needs maybe all his [teammates] to [help him] ... Messi had the ability to do it for himself."

Messi racked up 672 goals in 778 appearances for Barca – including an astonishing 73 in 2011/12, Guardiola's last season in charge at the Camp Nou.

Haaland is already only three goals away from 20 for City, netting 17 times in just 11 appearances. Incredibly, the 22-year-old is on course to finish the campaign with over 60 league goals. 

To put into context how utterly crazy that is, the single-season Premier League goals record currently stands at 34: Andy Cole in 1993/94 and Alan Shearer in 1994/95 (those were both 42-game campaigns). Only three players have scored 30 or more in a single season this decade: Luis Suarez in 2013/14, and Mo Salah and Harry Kane in 2017/18.