A day off for one of the best strikers, Haaland will be looking to forget this draw against Chelsea on Saturday. A late halftime strike from Sterling gave Chelsea the lead but City came with an equaliser from Rodri in the 83rd minute.
City fell behind Arsenal and Liverpool in the title race after their draw with Chelsea, as both of their competitors secured victories earlier in the day.
Haaland, known for his efficiency in front of goal, surprisingly missed three clear chances in the thrilling 1-1 draw. This occurred after Arsenal and Liverpool, City’s competitors for the title, had won their matches earlier on Saturday. The leading scorer in the Premier League had nine attempts on goal but failed to find the back of the net, marking his highest number of shots in a single game without scoring in all of his 79 appearances for Manchester City.
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“Haaland not to be blamed,” says coach Pep Guardiola
As per a report from ESPN, “It’s good to have nine shots, and next time he’s going to score,” said Guardiola. “I was a football player for 11 years and scored 11 goals. I’m not a proper man to give advice to strikers. We create the chances, he had the chances, and next time he’s going to score. I don’t blame him. It’s football, it’s human beings.”
Haaland scored a total of 16 goals this season but the Norwegian seems to be off the line this weekend. The frustration can be seen as a cameraman intruded too closely on the exasperated Norwegian international in the moments following the match and fierce Haaland pushed the camera out of his face.
Haaland had a forgettable afternoon individually, failing to capitalize on several prime chances. Despite his remarkable goal-scoring record of 52 goals in 53 matches last season, the Norwegian striker missed the mark entirely on multiple occasions when he had opportunities to challenge Djorde Petrovic, the goalkeeper for the visiting team. Seven of Haaland’s efforts were made by his head, including the one where he directed Julian Alvarez’s cross over the crossbar in the early stages of the match.
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