Erling Haaland hat-trick ‘nothing special’ – Pep Guardiola praises striker’s goalscoring career

Manchester City found themselves two down at half-time, but a wonderful solo goal from Bernardo Silva kickstarted a comeback before Haaland hammered in a hat-trick to finish the job.

And while Guardiola called on his side to conceded fewer goals after going two behind for the second game running, he was full of praise for summer signing Haaland and his goalscoring career that makes hat-tricks appear ordinary.

“We have the ability to score goals but lately we are conceding a lot,” he said.

“It’s nice leaving in this situation and to have a comeback. You are in the margin when this happens sometimes.

“They were well organised and we didn’t do what we need to do in these types of games. What [Erling Haaland] has done today he has done all his career. It is nothing special.”

“Bernardo Silva is the type of player that when things go bad he can step forward,” added Guardiola.

“He is maybe the best that we have when things go wrong.

“We dropped two points against Newcastle but we could have won with the chances we had and we learn that process. Today it was good.”

Haaland has scored five goals in his first four Premier League appearances for Manchester City, a record bettered only by his predecessor Sergio Aguero.

He only has 12 more goals to go before he matches his father’s goalscoring record for the club. The Norwegian was delighted with both the win and scoring a treble.

“It was a proud moment for me and my family and yes I’m happy. Amazing feeling to score a hat-trick,” he told the BBC.

“It’s about trying to continue what we are doing. It was about small adjustments and we did that and got results. We had to listen to the manager.

“It’s a mentality that we trust each other and we know the chances will come. It’s about keeping going. In the end we scored four goals and that’s a really good thing.

“It’s a warning that we have to become better, training hard and develop. When we play at home we shouldn’t concede early goals. It’s about working harder.”