Erling Haaland has been a Manchester City player for 20 months and has rarely spoken to the local media in that period.
However, that changed on Tuesday when the Norwegian was selected by the club as the player to conduct their pre-match press conference ahead of the Champions League last-16 tie against Copenhagen. The European champions lead 3-1 from the first leg in Denmark last month and are heavy favourites to progress to another quarter-final.
In the build-up to the second leg, Haaland cut a relaxed figure as he fielded questions from reporters at City’s media centre. It was an interesting and revelatory Q&A with the striker, who discussed his approach to missing big chances, especially following that howler in Sunday’s Manchester derby. Haaland even revealed he used to cry when he failed to convert a string of chances.
He also was quizzed about his relationship with Copenhagen, a club he nearly joined as a 16-year-old in 2016. Haaland earned a chuckle when he described the collapsed deal as ‘sad for them’, while he also was asked for his verdict on former Copenhagen striker Rasmus Hojlund.
Elsewhere, the City star spoke about his future, following reports in Spain last month that he is not happy in Manchester and wants to join Real Madrid this summer.
Haaland also was asked about signing a new contract, one day winning the Ballon d’Or ahead of Lionel Messi, facing Liverpool on Sunday and dealing with injury. Here’s every word from Haaland’s 17 questions on Tuesday…
1. How do you stay motivated after last season?
“Yeah, you can think about it in two ways. One thing I came here and won it all, and the other thing, I'm 23-years-old and I won everything and I got the taste of it, how it is to win everything, and how I work is that when I feel this, I want to win it again. Easy as that.”
2. Does Messi have to retire for you to win the Ballon d’Or?
“I don't know, good question. It's true he won it and he won the World Cup, so I don't know what to say. He's the best that's ever played I think, so yeah, I don't know.”
3. Mindset ahead of Liverpool…
“First of all I haven't thought anything of that game until you asked me now. I focus on Copenhagen right now, but yeah it's a massive game, it's going to be a huge game and one of the biggest games in England. We have to be ready for the game, we have to be brave and we have to play at our best because they have been really good this season.”
4. When you miss a big chance there’s a lot of talk…
“You can think of it in maybe two ways. Last year I was top scorer, I got 36 goals, and this season's top scorer has got 18, I think so far. So you can think of it in two ways, if it's been a good season or not for me. I think we're doing pretty good as a team, that's my main focus, of course. But, yeah, I've been missing, I missed a lot of chances. I will still keep on missing chances, I will still keep on scoring goals. I'll probably miss a big chance in the future as well, and people are going to criticise me, but what can I do then? Should I think of that? No, just focus on scoring more goals and to help the team.”