‘He has the numbers of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’: Pep Guardiola

Defending champions Manchester City began their Premier League 2024-25 campaign on a dominating note, sealing a 2-0 win vs arch-rivals Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Erling Haaland opened the scoring in the 18th-minute, City struck early to make it 1-0.
In the second-half, Chelsea tried to stage a comeback, but Mateo Kovacic settled proceedings for City with a goal in the 84th-minute, making it 2-0.
The win also saw Haaland reach 91 goals in all competitions for City and the striker was hailed by manager Pep Guardiola.
Speaking after the match, the Spaniard compared Haaland to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Guardiola said, “He has the numbers for Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who controlled the last decade, 15 years, absolutely everything. In terms of numbers, it is that level. So, I don’t know how he does it, but in 100 games scoring 91 goals is something in the Premier League, in this country, is unbelievable.”
“I had a feeling that he feels better than last season at this stage. After travel last season, he felt a bit ‘mmm-mmm’ [so-so] or felt he was tired. This season, I think for the Euros unfortunately Norway was not there, there was more rest and yeah, he feels good.
“The goal was magnificent. His contribution is in many things. He had two or three chances and always I had the feeling there is a gap to improve as a football player,” he added.
City have now won their opening Premier League match of the season in 13 of the last 14 seasons, with the other game a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham in 2021-22. Meanwhile, Chelsea have lost their Premier League campaign opener for a third time in the last eight seasons (won four and drawn one), as many times as they did in their last 25 seasons in the competition (won 16, drawn six, lost three).