“How lucky we are to have him” says Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland | OneFootball

Manchester City started their UEFA Champions League campaign in style with a dominant 2-0 victory over Napoli at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday evening.

Erling Haaland’s header marked his 50th Champions League goal, before Jérémy Doku doubled their advantage shortly after.

Pep Guardiola has expressed the determination throughout the team against the 10 men of Napoli, whose captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo was sent off for a late challenge on Haaland.

“Eleven against 10, it was a really good performance especially when they defend every ball, every block,” the City boss said. “Ten against 11, you can be more anxious, you can be more in a hurry and I would say it was completely the opposite.”

He went on to say: “Every pass was intentional, I know Napoli and Antonio (Conte) and his teams are really really tough to beat.”

Haaland’s goal made him the quickest ever player to reach 50 Champions League goals, doing so in just 49 games. His manager was about as impressed as everyone else.

“What can I say? The numbers speak for itself and how lucky we are to have him. Just congratulate him,” Guardiola said.

“(Ruud) Van Nistelrooy and (Robert) Lewandowski, but also the two monsters Cristiano (Ronaldo) and Lionel (Messi) in the past 20 years and Erling is there. In terms of goals, he is unbelievable.”

Cristiano Ronaldo currently holds the record for the most goals in the UEFA Champions League at a staggering 140, but Guardiola backs his Norwegian goal machine to advance past that.

“There’s no danger if he can play 10 more years. If he maintains this progression, absolutely [he can break the record]. It’s a question of play a lot, experience, more important goals and his mentality as well,” said Guardiola.