Erling Haaland bagged his first Manchester City hat-trick – then vowed to beat his dad's Premier League goal haul.
Haaland plundered a 19-minute second-half treble as Pep Guardiola's champions came from 2-0 down to beat Crystal Palace 4-2. Summer signing Haaland turned the game around, taking his Premier League goal tally to six from just four appearances since his £51million move from Borussia Dortmund.
But the 22-year-old still trails his father, former City, Leeds and Nottingham Forest midfielder, Alf-Inge, who managed 18 Premier League goals in his career – including four for the Blues. Asked about scoring more goals for City than his dad, Haaland said: “He'll probably say he has more goals in the Premier League than me! So I'm going to chase that.
“It's a really good feeling. It's a proud moment for me and my family.
"Now we need to keep going. In these games, that's why I am here, to turn it around when we maybe have difficult times. It's a good feeling.
“I don’t think too much about how many goals before the game and my focus is just to try to play as best as I can, together with the team, to try to win the game, and that's exactly what we did.
“Then I know that everything else will come.”
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Haaland said City's victory – the fourth time in their last six games they have gone 2-0 down and come back to win or draw – was all down to patience and perseverance
“In the end, it was about small adjustments and to keep going,” said Haaland. "It's really important to have this kind of mentality and we should get it even more. This is something we will work on and we have to keep working hard.”
