Haaland goal reminds Guardiola of Cruyff as Man City beat Dortmund 2-1

The Norwegian leapt at the back post, six minutes from the end of the Champions League Group G game, to hook a Joao Cancelo cross into the net with the outside of his left-foot.
 

City had to come back from a goal down with two strikes in the final 10 minutes to secure the win against a determined German side, for whom 22-year-old Haaland played until the summer.

"Yeah maybe the people who know me, maybe you know the influence Johan Cruyff had in my life as a person - education, manager and mentor and everything. Johan Cruyff, years ago, years ago, scored in the Camp Nou, an incredible goal against Atletico Madrid. It was quite, quite, quite similiar to Erling Haaland's goal and the moment he scored the goal, I thought 'oh Johan Cruyff.' It was quite similar, it was a really good one." Said Pep Guardiola

"And it was quite similar. We had a lot of problems to get our rhythm and we were so passive in our transition, our movements, to be aggressive. Yeah we struggled. We played in a wrong gear."

"I was impressed three seasons ago. Now he's 19? He was 17. I was impressed with 17, imagine with 19. He's able to defensively follow Gundo (Ilkay Gundogan) and Kevin (De Bruyne) in the pockets and win the duels. The transition is fast, he had the sense for the second position right to the box, the goal he scored. So yeah, exceptional player. I think everybody knows it, not because THE manager of Manchester City's going to tell you, so everybody knows it."

Guardiola was far from happy about the way his team, once again, had to turn the game around.

The equaliser came via a thundering long-range drive from defender John Stones, and Guardiola joked before the news conference that he wanted to talk about his strike before mentioning Haaland's winning goal against his former side.

City, who won their opening group game against Sevilla 4-0, top the standings on six points, three ahead of the Germans.