Haaland’s shadow man is so dangerous
Bitter news for Haaland
City striker Haaland was recently doomed to watch. With representative Álvarez, the Skyblues are in top form against Liverpool. FC Bayern is warned of the Champions League quarter-finals.
Hear despite Erling Haaland’s record season the discussions about the Norwegian superstar do not stop.
Whether it’s Liverpool legends Dietmar Hamann and Jamie Carragher or Arsenal icon Thierry Henry – Again and again, prominent personalities from world football demonstrate Haaland’s adaptability to city football and Pep Guardiola’s system.
Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp intervened in the Haaland debate before his protégés were embarrassed 4-1 against the Citizens. The Skyblues’ game would be “different but not weaker” without Haaland, said Klopp, adding: Guardiola also led Manchester to the championship without a real striker.
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Álvarez forgets Haaland failure
As soon as the prestige duel between the two top teams had started, things moved Haaland’s injury-related absence into the background. After the early shock for ManCity by Mohamed Salah’s goal, Haaland’s shadow man initiated the turnaround with his goal: Julián Álvarez.
“The way they played, they haven’t played all year,” said Hamann attesting to ManCity’s top performance.
Guardiola was full of praise for Haaland representative Álvarez after the final whistle: “All actions were brilliant. He was so clever with the ball because he’s so intelligent.”
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However, the star trainer did not want to participate in a comparison of his two attackers: “If we have Erling, we have something special – and Julian is also something special.”
Nevertheless, the question arises: Does Álvarez perhaps even fit City better than record scorer Haaland?
Haaland vs. Álvarez – the statistics leave room for interpretation
As expected, the bare numbers speak for the Norwegian superstar, Haaland advanced into completely new spheres with 42 competitive goals in 37 games. Álvarez’s 13 competitive goals, on the other hand, seem almost puny, but are almost as impressive when analyzed in depth.
Álvarez contributed a whopping 17 goals in 16 starting XI appearances. If Guardiola trusted the Argentine against one of the island’s Big Six, Álvarez was no less convincing than competitor Haaland.
The Norwegian scored six goals in all competitions and the Argentinian world champions five against the Premier League’s crème de la crème.
Which speaks for Álvarez
An analysis of The Athletic in particular suggests that Álvarez is more adept than his Sturm rivals at dropping into midfield and thus acting as a link between City’s powerful control center and attack.
Another point that speaks for Álvarez: Due to his start-up behavior, the Skyblues can put a completely different pressure on the opposing defense chain than with Haaland. The 23-year-old has qualities that are much more in line with the city style of the successful past few years.
Álvarez was only able to demonstrate his qualities in the Premier League five times over 90 minutes. If he played through, the sky blues lost only one Premier League game and averaged 2.8 goals.
For comparison: If Haaland is on the pitch for the full 90 minutes, the Citizens score almost one goal less on average. In fairness, Àlvarez’ numbers are less telling in this regard.
Contract until 2028: City builds on Álvarez
After the gala against Liverpool, Guardiola gave a speech of thanks to Álvarez discoverer Txiki Begiristain: “Thank you to the club, to Txiki, to the scouts for discovering him.”
The city sporting director was the initiator of the Álvarez transfer in early 2022 – despite the high transfer fee of 27 million euros for a South American talent who until then had only hinted at his potential in the Argentine league.
As one of the shooting stars at the Winter World Cup in Qatar, Álvarez was one of the guarantors of the Argentinian triumph. City took this as an opportunity and extended the contract with the Haaland backup until 2028 in mid-March.
“I’m very happy with my first season here, but I can still achieve a lot more,” Álvarez said aggressively after signing the contract, emphasizing: “I know I can be better.”
Haaland comeback? Alvarez? FC Bayern has been warned
So City needn’t worry, should Record striker Haaland in der Champions League against Bayern stand out. “If they play against Bayern with Haaland, I wouldn’t have a problem with that (from Bayern’s point of view),” said Haaland critic Hamann.
Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn agreed Sky90: “Pep always has creative ideas from time to time. But whether City is better with Haaland or not is almost a luxury discussion. When Haaland plays, he almost always scores his goals. That gives Pep even more options. Having options isn’t bad.”
Good for City, bad for Bayern: Haaland returned to Skyblues team training after his adductor injury on Wednesday, so his appearance against the German record champions next Tuesday does not seem to be in jeopardy.
And if it does, Guardiola has an exciting alternative up his sleeve. One that Bayern should also be warned about.