Pep Guardiola has chastised Erling Haaland for allowing Ilkay Gundogan to take and miss a late penalty for Manchester City, despite his team-mate being on for a hat-trick and the reigning champions being 2-0 up.
Guardiola was seen yelling at Haaland in the aftermath of Gundogan's effort hitting the post: "You have to take it!" Soon after, Sam Allardyce 's Leeds side pulled a goal back and made it a nervier ending than anticipated at the Etihad Stadium, with City enjoying total control of the game up until the 85th minute on Saturday afternoon.
The Citizens still managed to come away with a crucial 2-1 win thanks to a first-half brace from Gundogan, extending their lead over Arsenal in the Premier League title race to four points. Post-match, Guardiola was asked about the penalty incident and made his feelings on the matter clear.
"The game [was] not over," the City boss declared to BBC Match of the Day. "It shows how nice and generous Erling is. If it is 4-0 with 10 minutes left, okay. But at 2-0? Erling is the best penalty taker right now so he has to take it."
Haaland, who on Wednesday broke the record for most goals scored in a 38-game Premier League season with 35, surprisingly missed a series of chances in the game. Still, Guardiola was still impressed by the Norwegian striker's all-round performance.
"Today Erling could have scored two or three goals," the Spaniard went on to say. "He played incredibly well, in his movement and everything... how he fought for us. I like to praise Erling when he does not score. If Gundo scores everyone is 'OK, hat-trick, well done'. But a taker is a taker. At 2-0, this is a business, not a situation where we cannot forget it."
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Guardiola added: "We played an exceptional game. Our possession game was really good. First half was exceptional. We were maybe not as clinical as we should be. The second half, we cannot forget it is three games in six days with a lot of mental pressure.
As for Leeds, they're still narrowly outside the relegation zone on goal difference but have played one game more than their rivals. "It is the old story of taking one game at a time," Allardyce acknowledged. "We have to get better between now and next week. We have to improve our performance by 5%."
"It would be too much to ask more than that in such a short space of time. We can iron out a bit more in terms of the playing side and our possession. That is what let us down in the first half. It was too rush and not accurate enough. They weren't hitting the right spaces. When we did that a bit better in the second half we got more attacking options and it gave the defenders some respite."
