Pep Guardiola took a cheeky jibe at the people who blamed him for stopping Erling Haaland from breaking a Lionel Messi record. When Haaland was close to breaking a record held by Messi and Luiz Adriano, Guardiola subbed the Norwegian off. Some people from the soccer world claimed it was Guardiola’s Messi bias.
Guardiola has always reiterated that Messi is the best player in the world. The Argentine played for him while he was a manager at FC Barcelona. Messi was an absolute beast under Guardiola and his system. He played 219 matches in all competitions under the Spanish manager and scored 211 goals. He also assisted 94 goals in that period.
Pep responds to people saying he’s stopping Haaland breaking Messi’s records 🤣 pic.twitter.com/FYZkwVyAhK
— GOAL (@goal) March 18, 2023
Due to their fantastic relationship, fans believed that Guardiola has a Messi bias. Taking a jibe at those people, Guardiola made a comment after Manchester City‘s convincing 6-0 win against Burnley in the FA Cup quarter-final. Haaland scored a hat trick and he was subbed off after it. So, Guardiola said, “Eight goals in four days. I played 11 years in Barcelona and scored 11 goals!”
“He did it. It’s incredible. I made a substitution to him at three goals to not break the record to Messi in the FA Cup.”
It is key to note that Messi has never appeared in an FA Cup game. Only English teams can take part in an FA Cup game. Therefore, Guardiola directed his comments to people who say he has a Messi bias.
Pep Guardiola stopped Erling Haaland from breaking Lionel Messi’s UEFA Champions League record
When Messi was playing under Guardiola in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League season, the Argentine equaled the record for most goals in a UCL match (5). Messi did it against Bayer Leverkusen, Barcelona won that match 7-1 and advanced to the quarter-finals 10-2 on aggregate.
In Manchester City’s round of 16 tie in the 2022/23 UCL season, Haaland scored five goals in under 60 minutes. Realistically, he had half an hour more to break the record. However, Guardiola subbed him off in the 62nd minute and stopped him from having a shot at breaking the record. Fans turned on Guardiola for having an alleged Messi bias.
🗣Pep Guardiola:
“Substituting Haaaland out when he had the chance of breaking Messi’s CL record of 5 goals in a CL game? If he had scored six goals at the age of 22, he would have been bored in the future”#UCL pic.twitter.com/Qi3zexGZiM
— PSG Chief (@psg_chief) March 15, 2023
Defending himself in a jovial manner, Guardiola said, “if he [Haaland] achieves this milestone at 22, his life would be boring. Now he has a target to do it in the future.”
After scoring five goals in midweek, Haaland scored another three on the weekend. He scored a hat trick in under 60 minutes and was subbed off in the 63rd minute. Julian Alvarez scored a brace and Cole Palmer scored one to give City a comfortable win.
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