Pep Guardiola was left drawing parallels between Erling Haaland and Johan Cruyff as the Manchester City striker scored a sensational winning goal against former club Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday evening.
The Norwegian was on the periphery throughout the majority of the game but was in the right place at the right time to acrobatically convert Joao Cancelo 's brilliant cross with just six minutes of normal time remaining.
The goal was a fantastic effort from Haaland and it had manager Guardiola drawing comparisons between his striker and Barcelona icon Cruyff - the Dutchman having scored a very similar goal during his playing days at the Camp Nou. .
Speaking to BT Sport after the final whistle at the Etihad Stadium, Guardiola said: "What a goal. I remember a long long time ago Johan Cruyff scored a goal similar against Atletico Madrid, he scored a similar goal. Today, it’s nice to have Erling emulate Johan Cruyff."
City struggled to get going against the German giants and looked as though they were en route to defeat after Jude Bellingham had opened the scoring with a powerful header.
However, a thunderbolt from John Stones levelled matters before Haaland stepped up in the 84th minute to break his former club’s hearts with his winner.
Who was your man-of-the-match in Man City's win over Borussia Dortmund? Share your thoughts in the comments below
Whilst City were left thanking Haaland once more for stepping up - his goal against his former club his 13th in just his ninth appearance for Man City since quitting the Westfalenstadion - Guardiola was also full of praise for his side after they managed to find a way out of adversity once more.
He also highlighted City defender John Stones for the role he played in victory after the centre-back scored a brilliant equaliser - reminiscent of Vincent Kompany's iconic strike against Leicester City in 2019.
"We play in our own gear today, our game no aggression, passive, players like Hummels, Sule, Gueirreiro, the moment we changed rhythm 1-0 down, the rhythm from Phil, Bernardo, Julian we changed our pace and two excellent goals," Guardiola continued.
"We want to talk about Erling, okay thank you but John Stones some highlights he deserves it
"I’m pretty sure the first-half, John would not have had the courage to try it but we had it. John, exceptional I’m so happy for him.
"It’s [Dortmund] an exceptional team, everybody in the Champions League is a really good team. We knew it, we were not good enough today. But at the same time, it’s always good to have resilience of let's go, let’s go, let’s go. After with Erling and Julian as alternatives, it works."
