Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has explained what makes Erling Haaland great the Norwegian helped the champions to a 3-1 win over Manchester United in the derby on Sunday.
Haaland scored City's third goal in added time at the Etihad after Phil Foden had netted twice earlier in the second half to swing the game in their side's favour after Marcus Rashford had fired United into an early lead.
The Norwegian continued his prolific scoring rate as he scored his 80th goal in just 84 appearances for City and 28 in 31 games in 2023/24, but the 23-year-old had earlier missed some easier chances.
And after the game, Guardiola said that it is the ability to bounce back from the misses that makes Haaland such a great striker.
"The great, great players I met, I was lucky to manage many of them, they forget [missed chances] in an instant," the Catalan said. "They forget as quick as possible.
"Footballers, basketball players. They miss. They just smile and get on with it and he [Haaland] did it. He has an incredible ability to forget. That defines the great players."
Guardiola also reserved huge praise for Foden after his key role in the derby win, calling the England attacker "the best player in the Premier League" at the moment.
"What can I say? He is the best player in the Premier League right now for the amount of things he does. Unbelievable," he said. "He is right now the best so far.
"I always had the feeling he would score goals, but now he is winning games. He's a world class player. He lives for football, but now he is winning games.
"He played false nine at Bournemouth and now today. Rashford scored an incredible goal, but Foden was incredible too.
"It is the amount of games he is playing. He was always a talented player but now he is more mature and understands more the game, especially defensively. He can play middle, right, make moments and cut inside, play in the left, scoring from the left."
More Manchester City stories
Kevin De Bruyne retirement revealed – unless Manchester City plan shock move
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has key rule EVERY player must stick to - otherwise they don't play
Manchester City in shock contact with superstar, as Pep Guardiola chases even more dominance: report
