‘Born to score goals’ – Guardiola hails Haaland after first Premier League hattrick in Palace comeback

For the second time in succession, Manchester City have come from two goals down and this time, they showed why they are the reigning champions of England.

Crystal Palace and Patrick Vieira thought they were on their way to staging another famous upset against City but Erling Haaland had other plans in mind as he bagged a brilliant hatrick to see the Citizens win via a 4-2 scoreline.

A tally of six goals in his first four Premier League games has already seen him equal a record matched only by Sergio Aguero and we can only help but imagine how many more records he would break at this rate.

He becomes only the fourth player to hit those figures after four games behind Diego Costa, Sergio Aguero and Mick Quinn. It is quite the feat for the young man who many thought would not be able to handle the physicality of the Premier League.

After the game, Guardiola described Haaland as ‘born to score goals’, with the Norwegian already staking an early claim for the Golden Boot award.

More praise for Haaland

Guardiola had to watch his side come from behind to win again but thanks to the brilliance of his forward, City took all three points in style with four second half goals.

“Erling has done [what he has done] since he was born,” said Pep.

“He has done what he has done all his life, in Salzburg and everywhere he has been he has scored goals.

“Against these type of teams, we struggle because they defend so deep, but he has an incredible sense of goal.

“The three (he scored), especially the last one, but the first one as well, were all good goals.

“The numbers for this guy are beyond. The most important thing is that he has settled perfectly, and he is an incredibly humble guy.

“He is a lovely person. He chats more with the guys from the Academy and that means a lot.

“Hopefully, he can be happy the time we are together.”

Haaland’s strong Premier League start continues

It was his 14th hat-trick in his career and his 141st goal in his 188th career game. In case you did not already know, Haaland is only 22 years old. Those are record-breaking numbers. Not even Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo had that many hat-tricks at that age, and they are the top two on the all-time hat-tricks list in football.

And after joining the exclusive list of players to have scored six in their first four games, Haaland is already looking forward to the next game and record. In his post-match interview, he said: “Really good feeling. A proud moment for me and my family. We keep going. These games are why I’m here – to turn things around when there are difficult times.”