Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola doesn’t believe his team can rely on striker Erling Haaland to single-handedly break the club’s Champions League curse this season.
City have dominated English football for years, winning four of the last five Premier League titles, but they’ve failed to make their mark in the hunt for European football’s ultimate prize.
After falling short of what would’ve been their first taste of European glory, losing both a final and semi-final over the last two years, City might finally be ready to win it all.
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Rising star Erling Haaland completed a £51 million ($A86m) move to the Etihad from Borussia Dortmund earlier this year, and has enjoyed a remarkable start to life in England.
The 22-year-old has scored 10 goals in his first six Premier League games, but Guardiola has warned that he can’t solve the club’s European woes all on his own.
“If we rely on Erling’s shoulders, we will not win the Champions League,” Guardiola said.
“We try to help him score goals. We convinced him to come here as he felt we did not have strikers and he could play with us.
“I understand everyone talks about Erling, but I have three or four new players and I want them to settle. I hope he can help us, but we won’t win just because of him and we don’t lose just because of him.
“He has a special quality and maybe he can solve the problems we have, definitely, but we have to play good as a team as well.”
City open their Champions League account for the 2022/23 season away to Sevilla, who have won the Europa League six times.
But Haaland has been there and done it before against Sevilla in the Champions League, scoring a decisive double for Dortmund in the round of 16 last year.
The 5-4 aggregate win was not only a headline grabbing win for the German giants, but once again, it showed the football world how good the Norway striker really is.
“City without Haaland was already an exceptional team,” Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui said.
“They have players of the highest level in every position and now with Haaland they are stronger and have more alternatives.
“We are playing against a rival of a very high level, they are among the best teams in the world, more so because of the new option they have in Haaland, which makes them more complete, but we are concentrating on ourselves.”
City will be without defensive pair Kyle Walker and John Stones for their Champions League opener.
Walker limped off towards the end of last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa, while Stones also picked up a minor knock.
