Erling Haaland reveals he was frustrated watching Man City last season as ‘no one was there’ to score

Erling Haaland has revealed he was frustrated watching Manchester City last season knowing exactly what he could bring to the team.

Haaland was a revelation in his first season in England, scoring 52 goals in 52 games to put City on the verge of a historic treble.

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Much was expected of the Norwegian sensation following his £54million transfer from Borussia Dortmund, but he exceeded all expectations and broke many records along the way.

Prior to his arrival, Pep Guardiola relied on a striker-less system and often struggled to fit pure goalscorers into his squad, which led to clashes with Samuel Eto’o and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

But when childhood City fan Haaland watched the team last season, he knew he was going to fit in perfectly.

Speaking to Between the Lines ahead of Saturday night’s Champions League final – live on talkSPORT – he said: “I knew the team very well when I came, I’ve watched City for as long as I remember.

“The year before they scored 100 goals, so for me coming to City as a striker I knew I could do it, but of course I didn’t expect to score so many goals.”

When shown his goalscoring card from inside the box, Haaland said with a smile: “It’s a good thing to be good at kicking balls.

“Last season I saw so many times that crosses were going through the whole box and there was no one there. I imagined myself being there and I thought I would slip that in there.

“I was thinking about that when I came here. It’s not me who will create chances but I have my role in the team.

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“And that’s it. My job is to help the team get the ball into the net.”

Presenter Rio Ferdinand then asked if Haaland watches his performances to learn from them, to which he replied: “I don’t watch my games at all, actually.

“I try to think about the next game, not so much about what I did and what I did wrong.

“I try to attack the next game. I did it [watched games back] a little when I was younger, but I was thinking a little too much when I did it so I quit.

“I don’t look at anyone [opponents] I just try to focus on the next game and not think about what happened but what will happen.