Erling Haaland labelled ‘freak’ by Man City teammate after outrageous Champions League goal

Phil Foden branded Erling Haaland “a freak” for the extraordinary volley he scored against Sparta Prague – and joked he would get injured if he tried to do something similar.

Haaland struck twice in a 5-0 win over Sparta Prague with his first goal a backheeled volley in mid-air that left Foden, who had opened the scoring, marvelling at it.

He said: “I just spoke to him if I tried to do that I'd pull my groin. I don't know how he did it I just think it's just his long legs. He's a freak, isn't he? I've seen him score one similar against Borussia Dortmund.”

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola felt it was a credibility-defying strike and admitted he was not initially sure even if Haaland was the scorer.

He explained: “I didn't know how he scored in the moment because there was one player in front of me. I didn't know who had scored so they told me. It's unbelievable. He's a statue. So tall and so flexible. I like it, he has this sense of humour. Very similar to the Dortmund one a few years ago. Unbelievable. I don't know which was more difficult, both very difficult.”

Midfielder Matheus Nunes, who scored City’s fifth goal against Sparta, also compared it with his 2022 overhead kick against Haaland’s former club.

The Portugal international was a Wolves player at the time and he said: “What an amazing goal. I was speechless after that. When he scored a similar goal against Dortmund I was watching on TV so to see this live it was amazing.”

Sparta manager Lars Friis described it as “strange” in its brilliance. The Dane said: “He’s a world class player and maybe the best striker in the world and he scored strange goals, he scored good goals, he scored with the head with foot and now all of this, so world class.”