Erling Haaland points to 'unreal' Pep Guardiola as reason for City move, cites Cristiano Ronaldo inspiration

Erling Haaland says watching Manchester City’s «unreal» football under «the best coach» Pep Guardiola was the deciding factor in him choosing to move to the Etihad last summer. The Norwegian striker joined the club last summer from Borussia Dortmund and has scored an incredible 52 goals from 52 games in his debut campaign, helping the club win the Premier League, FA Cup and reach the Champions League final.

Ad Ahead of the huge showdown with Inter Milan in Istanbul, where City can win the tournament for the first time as well as become just the second English side in history to secure the treble, Haaland spoke exclusively to Rio Ferdinand on BT Sport's Between the Lines looking ahead to the match and discussing his own game. Champions LeagueLukaku: Haaland and Mbappe will dominate world football for next 10 years05/06/2023 AT 08:24 Asked what drew him to join City over potential moves to Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, Haaland left no doubt as to why he made the switch to the Manchester giants.

“For me, the football Pep and Man City have been playing is unreal,” Haaland said ahead of the final, with coverage beginning at 6pm UK time on BT Sport 1. “Everyone knows it, it’s the most beautiful football.

I wanted to be a part of that, and I felt it could be a really good fit. I also felt the trust with people I spoke with from higher up, and that was something I wanted to be part of, and also with Pep of course.

“People say this and that of him, but in the end he’s the best coach. The best coach, to be able to experience to train with him was something I wanted, and to work with him every single day was also a nice challenge and something I wanted to experience and to do." ‘Only thing we want to change’ – De Bruyne determined