17 minutes ago
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Manchester City: Erling Haaland says he will do everything to win the treble
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland says he will “do everything” to help the club achieve an historic treble.
City have won the Premier League this season and can add to that if they beat Manchester United in the FA Cup final on Saturday and Inter Milan in the Champions League final on June 10.
United won each of these trophies in 1999 and are the only English club to have achieved such a treble.
“It would be unreal to write this story,” said 22-year-old Haaland.
Despite City’s domestic dominance, they are yet to win the Champions League and Haaland is hoping he can be the missing element to secure success in Europe’s biggest tournament.
“That’s why they bought me, of course. To get that, we don’t have to hide that,” Haaland told ` sports editor Dan Roan.
“It would mean everything. I will do everything I can to try to make it happen. It’s my biggest dream and hopefully dreams come true.”
He added: “But it’s not easy either – it’s two finals against two good sides who will do anything to try and destroy that.”
“They’re going to be motivated, they’re going to be ready and we have to do our best because if we do our best then we have a really good chance of doing just that.”
City overtook Arsenal this season to win their third consecutive Premier League title under manager Pep Guardiola.
“We’ve been chasing all season and when we won the Premier League it was a huge relief,” said Haaland, who has scored 36 top-flight goals this season.
“Now we have two finals left and now we can only focus on those two finals before the holidays.”
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MOTD2 analysis: How ‘outstanding’ Haaland helped Man City win the Premier League title
“I’m 196 cm tall with long blonde hair – people will see me”
Haaland has had an impressive first season in English football since joining City from Borussia Dortmund last summer.
His tally has seen him break the Premier League record for most goals in a season, scoring 52 goals in the season.
The Norway international was named Men’s Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) and is the first player to win Premier League Player and Young Player of the Year awards in the same season.
Haaland’s exploits have made him one of the most recognizable players in the game and he says his way of dealing with fame is to embrace it.
“It’s nice, it means I did something right,” Haaland said.
“My life has changed of course, I can’t live as normally anymore. That’s my life, I can’t complain.”
“I’m trying to enjoy every single moment of it, and that’s how it is.”
“I’m 196 cm tall and have long blonde hair. Wherever I go, people will see me. So that’s my life. What can I do?”
“I can’t do anything, this is my life. I just have to try to enjoy it as much as possible. Try to relax when I’m at home and with good people around, it’s really important. Just try to enjoy my life.”
Haaland believes he’s improved “a lot” this season but that he can still get better “from my right foot to my left foot to my header, from the build-up play – everything”.
“I’ve developed really positively and that’s really important for me because I’m still very young,” he said.
“I’m 22, I have a long career ahead of me and I still need to develop. That’s what I thought about over a year ago when I was contemplating my next step.”
Haaland knows Manchester United will be “motivated” as they not only want to beat their local rivals to extend their Carabao Cup success this season, but also prevent City from achieving their treble.
“It won’t be an easy game,” said Haaland. “We have to play our game. We can’t think too much, we have to focus on ourselves and we have to play the game we’re supposed to be playing.”
“In the end we’ll see. It’s a 90-minute football game and those who do best in those games can win.”
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