MY ACCOUNT
Jack Grealish is staggered by the scoring prowess of Manchester City team-mate Erling Haaland after the Norwegian added two more goals to his rapidly rising season total.
Haaland’s first-half brace started City on their way to a 5-0 thrashing of Copenhagen in the Champions League at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, with a Davit Khocholava own goal, a Riyad Mahrez penalty and a tap-in from Julian Alvarez completing the rout.
It takes the former Borussia Dortmund striker to 19 goals from 12 games in all competitions for City this season, and Grealish lavished praise on the “humble” 22-year-old.
“It’s unbelievable,” Grealish said of Haaland in a post-match interview with BT Sport. “I’ve never witnessed anything like it in my life.
“He’s just always there, he’s always finishing it and it’s a pleasure to play with him at the minute.
“When I was walking back after one of the goals… their keeper said something to me. I was like ‘What?’, and he was just like ‘He’s not human’… I was like ‘Bro I know, you’re telling me’.
“He’s unbelievable, a pleasure to play with, he’s so humble and great around the place and I’m not just bigging him up, that’s the God’s honest truth.
“Hopefully he can carry on this form and fire us to glory.”
Haaland has scored 28 goals in 22 appearances in the Champions League, a goals per game record of 1.27; there are 98 teams with a worse goals per game record than him in the competition, while he is the third player to score in each of his first three appearances for an English club in the competition, after Marouane Chamakh for Arsenal and Ferran Torres for City.
Grealish had a frustrating night himself in front of goal, unable to find the net despite taking more shots than any other player (six), but he was repeatedly denied by former Liverpool academy goalkeeper Kamil Grabara.
He was a constant thorn in Copenhagen’s side otherwise, and produced a run and pass for Mahrez in the build-up to Alvarez’s goal.
“I’m loving it at the moment,” Grealish said. “The last three or four games I’ve loved it, I feel back to myself, playing with that sort of freedom and playing with confidence.
“It would help if I got myself on the scoresheet, I was desperate tonight. It’s all about enjoying it and winning, and that’s what I’m doing at the moment.”
It was not only Grealish who was denied by Grabara, who made 12 saves, the joint-most on record by any goalkeeper on their first start in the Champions League, along with Ruslan Nesheret for Dynamo Kyiv against Barcelona in November 2020 (from 2003-04 onwards).
“You know when the luck’s not with you,” the England international added, before asking the interviewer if the third goal was an own goal. When it was confirmed it was, Grealish joked: “So I didn’t get the assist for that either.”
The 27-year-old continued: “I started a lot of games recently so obviously I’m thankful to the manager for that.
“I’m enjoying it, playing football with a smile on my face, really settling in now and playing with confidence.”
