Guardiola hails Haaland as Messi, Ronaldo-level scorer

SOUTHAMPTON: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola praised striker Erling Haaland's scoring abilities, saying that the Norwegian is on par with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of finding the back of the net. 

Haaland scored two goals on his return from injury in City's 4-1 victory over Southampton on Saturday, bringing his debut season tally to 44 goals, with 30 of them coming in the Premier League.

Guardiola was impressed with Haaland's second goal, an acrobatic overhead kick from a cross by Jack Grealish, and said that the striker's performance changed the game.

"The second goal was amazing. It is not easy to pick the ball up in the sky and put it on the grass," Guardiola, who coached Messi during four years as Barcelona coach, was quoted by AFP as saying.

"As a top scorer we lived two incredible decades with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi but he is on that level. He scores a lot of goals. I am very happy with 65 minutes after injury and he helped us again."

Despite Haaland's return, City struggled in the first half, but their performance picked up after the break, with Grealish also scoring a goal.

The win puts City within five points of league leaders Arsenal, while Southampton remain at the bottom of the table.

Guardiola is not thinking about City's upcoming Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich, but rather is focused on securing a treble of trophies.