Erling Haaland hails Manchester City for ‘fixing’ his body
Erling Haaland says his extraordinary scoring spree at Manchester City is down in part to the club’s medical staff “fixing” his body.
The Norway striker was dogged by a series of muscle problems, particularly to his adductors, during his two-and-a-half-year spell at Borussia Dortmund that often limited his availability, and underwent a small procedure in the summer.
But Haaland believes the tireless work done by City’s medical experts to address those issues have been a key factor behind his record-breaking start at the Premier League champions.
The 22-year-old became the first player in top-flight history to score 20 goals before January with a double in Wednesday’s 3-1 win at Leeds, despite a six-week break for the World Cup in Qatar.
The two goals took his tally to a remarkable 26 in just 19 outings, during which time he has demolished record after record and is currently on course to become the first player to hit 40 goals in a Premier League campaign.
“It’s been fantastic in the first half of the year – to work with Pep [Guardiola, the City manager] and such amazing players,” Haaland said.
“Not only the coaching staff and players but also the medical staff have been working so good for me to fix my body. I’ve been having some small problems but now I’m getting much better.
“It’s been a pleasure honestly to work with these guys to improve my game. I’m still young and that’s something I want to do – I want to improve and become better.
“I feel good. I had a vacation [during the World Cup] and recharged my batteries. I’m ready for the second half of the season.”
Sports therapist Mario Pafundi and City’s wider medical and sports science departments have been credited with playing an important role in drastically improving Haaland’s availability.
Pafundi even went away on international duty with the striker for Norway’s Nations League games against Slovenia and Serbia to monitor his progress and ensure his carefully managed routine was not disrupted.
Erling Haaland has made a stunning start to life at the Etihad CREDIT: Getty Images/Matt McNulty
Haaland has not featured in only four of City’s matches this season – for two of which he was an unused substitute – having made just 30 appearances across all competitions in his final season with Dortmund.
The Norwegian’s own meticulous approach to managing his body and mind has also played its part in boosting his fitness. He wears an Oura Ring device on his finger which measures his sleep quality, temperature trends, stress and heart rate and also wears orange-tinted, blue-light glasses in the hours before he goes to sleep because they block out high energy emitted from digital screens and natural light.
Close attention is also paid to his diet, which includes offal, heart, liver, fish and his dad Alfie’s lasagne.
More recently, City have been having to manage a foot ligament problem that forced Haaland’s substitution at half-time against his old club Dortmund in the Champions League in late October.
Guardiola admitted after Leeds that the issue – which largely prevented Haaland from training on their winter camp in Abu Dhabi this month – combined with a lack of match practice following the World Cup hiatus means his centre forward is not yet fully up to speed or at his best.
‘I get really p—– when I miss chances’
Despite those complications, though, Haaland cannot stopping and is spearheading City’s charge as they bid to overhaul a five-point gap to leaders Arsenal.
Haaland berated himself for not scoring five against Leeds and says he gets “really p—–” when he misses chances. But he says he has learned how to deal much better with any misses than when he was younger at Red Bul Salzburg and could let them affect him.
“To be honest, I get really p—–,” he said. “That’s the truth. But when I miss, I want to score even more. That’s the funny thing – when I score one, it’s such a good feeling I want to score another goal, so it’s positive. But, of course it’s hard [to miss] – you remember in Salzburg it was hard for me when I missed chances. Jesse [Marsch, the former Salzburg manager now in charge of Leeds] knew all about that.
“I’m getting older, more mature, now and I’m getting a bit better handling these situations, but of course it’s hard [when you miss]. You have to think in a way to do something about the next chance because you cannot do anything about the past, you have to think about the next chance.”
Haaland said he did not celebrate against Leeds out of respect to the club, for whom he has a deep affection, and the city in which he was born. Haaland was born only weeks after his father Alfie Haaland left Leeds for City in 2000 and said Wednesday’s exploits at Elland Road were a special moment for his watching family.
“Yeah that [not celebrating] was planned, I didn’t feel like celebrating. I felt too much respect for Leeds, where I was born,” he said. “It was a pretty special feeling, my father and mother in the stands, my whole family. It’s a bit unreal to be honest. Not even in my craziest fantasy would I think to play for Manchester City against Leeds at Elland Road.”
Haaland said it was a “bummer” not to be involved in the World Cup but said he would give Julian Alvarez “a big hug when I see him” after the City forward lifted the trophy with Argentina. Alvarez is due to report back after City’s game against Everton on Saturday.
Source: telegraph.co.uk
