Erling Haaland has told his Manchester City team-mates that now is not the time for celebrating, with two huge games on the horizon.
City have already secured their fifth Premier League title in six seasons ahead of their final league match of the season, against Brentford on Sunday. But the focus is on the two following games: the FA Cup final against Manchester United and the Champions League final against Inter Milan.
Haaland has already broken the record for the most Premier League goals in a season with 36 and he added another accolade to his collection on Thursday as he was named the Football Writers’ Association’s Footballer of the Year. Yet he is not allowing himself a pat on the back until the season is concluded in Istanbul on June 10.
“There are two finals left, we have to stay focused even though we won the Premier League,” Haaland said. “We have to stay focused to achieve what we can achieve in the next two finals. I will do everything I can to achieve good things in the finals and hopefully win both.
“It’s a good thing being favourites (against Inter Milan) because it means we have qualities, we have to attack the game in our way, play our football and in the end we’ll see who wins it.”
Haaland picked up 82 per cent of the votes to win the FWA award, beating Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard. “I feel good, it’s a special moment,” he added. “I expected to do good things but, to do this, I didn’t expect.”
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City won 12 Premier League games in succession to overhaul Arsenal, who at one stage lead the race by eight points. Haaland has been relentless in front of goal, fitting perfectly into Pep Guardiola’s side after making a £51million move from Borussia Dortmund last summer.
“It’s really just about taking it game-by-game, to be honest, and to focus on what we can focus about,” he added. “I don’t like to focus on the future or the past. I like to live in the moment and I like to take it game-by-game – exactly what he (Pep Guardiola) said we were going to do and that’s what we did.
“We focused and we achieved exactly what we wanted to achieve. In the end it’s unreal what we did, being behind all season and we came like a unit together. It was amazing and an amazing feeling.”
City are aiming to replicate the famous Treble that Manchester United managed in 1999 by winning the league, FA Cup and Champions League. Despite Guardiola’s success, City have never won the latter and will fancy their chances against Inter next month.
