Jurgen Klopp believes that Erling Haaland has enjoyed such a good start to the season that nobody should be compared to him - not even Mohamed Salah.
Haaland scored his 20th goal of the season for Manchester City on Saturday, firing home City's fourth goal in their 4-0 defeat of Southampton to extend his scoring streak to 10 consecutive games in all competitions. Having already scored 15 league goals in nine outings - seven more than next highest scorer Harry Kane - the race for the Golden Boot appears to be done and dusted after just two months of the season.
Liverpool forward Salah is usually in and around the top of the scoring charts but this season he has netted just twice, emblematic perhaps of his side's struggle for consistency and form.
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From a position inside the City bubble, it's easy to get carried away and wrapped up in the whole narrative of Haaland and his goals. However, Klopp has shown just how awe-struck everyone on the outside is too and has sent a clear message to his Egyptian star: forget about trying to catch the Premier League's new goal machine.
"With Mo, I hope he is close to exploding. But nobody in the world can cope with the Haaland situation at this moment," Klopp said.
"It’s crazy what he is doing. When he scored his second goal in the Champions League [against Copenhagen] he shook his head as if to say ‘I can do whatever I want and the ball bounces straight to my feet’. Haaland is an exceptional player in an exceptional team, so that obviously works pretty well. I don’t think we should compare anybody with Haaland at this moment - at least I don’t.
"Mo wants to score goals. Definitely, desperately, definitely, 100 per cent - and that will never change. Call him in 20 years and it will be the same. That will never change. With Mo, it is like this: even if his goalscoring numbers are not that crazy, you see how often he is involved in the passes for goals. The problem is that if he doesn’t score a goal, then no one appreciates that."
City's next Premier League assignment is against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, October 16.
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