Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says Erling Haaland will not be the telling difference in ending their European hoodoo this season - highlighting the importance of a watertight defence instead.
Haaland produced an astonishing five-goal performance against RB Leipzig on Tuesday night as star-studded City booked their place in the quarter-finals of the marquee competition. Attentions are now firmly locked on the draw which will be held in Switzerland on Friday lunchtime.
Despite their Premier League dominance in recent seasons - with Guardiola leading City to four titles himself since being appointed in 2016 - the club have never won the Champions League in its current or former guise. Their closest attempt came two years ago when Chelsea beat them in the final.
READ MORE: Player ratings as Haaland ridiculous
From the outside looking in, at least, Haaland was signed to make the difference in big moments and his five goals against Leipzig - not to mention his overall tally this season - adds weight to that argument. However, it will not be the defining factor, according to Guardiola.
Speaking to BT Sport cameras post-match, the Catalan said: "I don't think so. I don't think so.
"The reason why we concede a lot of goals is that we give them, so because we score four goals here to Real Madrid, years ago scored six goals to Monaco, we scored four goals here to Tottenham and all of the time we were out because we concede the goals that could absolutely be avoided.
"Right now with these guys, they defend really well. They're defenders and goals we always score.
"Of course, having a weapon like Erling [Haaland], like Julian [Alvarez], like what we had with Sergio [Aguero] before or Gabriel [Jesus] - the instinct to score goals - but in this competition one moment, that is important."
MORE TO READ:
