‘The joke is good’ – Pep Guardiola reacts to petition to get Erling Haaland banned from Manchester City

Man City boss Pep Guardiola says the petition created to get Erling Haaland banned from competitive football is a “good” joke.

Haaland has scored a stunning 19 goals in 12 appearances since arriving at City from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, including three hat-tricks in just eight Premier League games, with his third treble coming in last Sunday’s 6-3 victory over Manchester United.

Haaland hit 86 goals in 89 matches for Borussia Dortmund while he bagged 21 goals in 23 caps at international level for Norway.

He is a goal-scoring machine, and an army of Premier League fans are already sick of it, with one joker creating a petition called ‘Petition to get Erling Haaland banned from Association Football because it’s just not fair’.

City defender Aymeric Laporte has even joined in the fun by tweeting an image of the petition to Haaland, and Guardiola laughed off the online craze at a press conference on Friday ahead of the weekend visit of Southampton.

“Yeah, it’s a joke,” said a smiling Guardiola, “it’s a joke, it’s good.”

On Haaland not being at the World Cup, Guardiola told a press conference: “Of course not. It is amazing for a football player to play there it is a shame for the fans who want to see the best players possible. The joke is good [petition for him to be banned]. He will have a holiday for a few weeks.”

Asked whether he was in disbelief about the amount of goals Haaland has scored, Guardiola added: “It is not about disbelief. It is the fact that he has an incredible instinct. He has an incredible sense as a striker he goes one second before the ball arrives.

“These types of player, how can a manager teach him it is impossible. He is a natural. He did it Norway Austria, he smells it. Thank you for choosing us we are fortunate to have this talent.”

On possible Haaland improvements, Guardiola continued: “The connection with Kevin, Phil, Riyad, Jack. Erling when he has the ball he knows what passes I like. He can improve every part of his game. Everyone knows he can do better. We can all improve until we die.

“It will be good for Haaland to break the record but any record can be broken. Hopefully he can carry this on. After the Community Shield people had a lot of doubts but let’s just look at tomorrow and he needs to focus on that. Then at the end of the season he can look at the goals.”

On Haaland and Messi comparisons, Guardiola said: “If we play good we can put a lot of balls in the box. We are not going to rely on Haaland. We saw the last Champions League games that it is out of the control of the players and managers. Our level needs to be higher. What you have to do in the positions against you, you make sure you are good enough.

“Nothing is comparable with Leo Messi. How many new Messis is there ten or 15 but they all fail. All of the questions about Erling but the guys here accept it perfectly. Kevin is an exceptional person and he is happy to have Erling here and it goes for all the players here.”