Erling Haaland insists the Community Shield defeat to Liverpool in July has inspired his incredible start to the season after the striker smashed Michael Owen's 24-year hat-trick record.
The Manchester City forward was on the losing side for the first and only time in his short City career in August, with late goals from Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez sealing a 3-1 victory for the Reds. Haaland was on the harsh end of early criticism that afternoon following a glaring miss.
But since then the 22-year-old has barely missed a beat, scoring 14 goals in eight appearances as Manchester City remain unbeaten in the league. A trio of world-class finishes in the 6-3 win against Manchester United on Sunday made it three consecutive home league hat-tricks and his third three-goal haul in eight league games this season.
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And after the derby-day demolition of Erik ten Hag's side, the Norwegian admitted he has used that early defeat as fuel to fire his outstanding performances.
"Confidence is good, it's always been good,” Haaland told BBC Sport. “After we played against Liverpool in the Community Shield it was still good after. I think it was good that match happened, that something happened and [I thought] I have to be a bit more ready.
"It could've been more and in the second half [against Manchester United] we should've been tighter, worked a bit harder, because it was a bit sloppy at times. We lost the second half and this is not good so we still have to work.
"It's been good, I felt it a little bit before the game that something special is going to happen and we saw today that some special things happened. It was nice. On Friday I felt it in the whole training ground. It's these games I want to play in. These are the best games where there's a bit extra."
Sunday's treble makes Haaland the fastest player to record three Premier League hat-tricks, but the extent to which the former Borussia Dortmund man shattered the old record beggars belief. Previous holder, Michael Owen, took 48 games to score three hat-tricks for the Reds when he bagged against Sheffield Wednesday, Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest during 1998.
United goalscorer Ruud van Nistelrooy took 59 appearances to make it to three hat-tricks, while Liverpool fan-favourite Fernando Torres managed it in 64 games.
And Haaland looks set to keep breaking all records that come his way. The Norwegian already has the most goals after eight appearances with 14, and has at least double anyone else in the Premier League so far this season.
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