Striker laments not scoring five times in city of his birth as Man City bag 3-1 win to climb to second
\n LEEDS:
\nErling Haaland lamented not scoring five times in the city of his birth as the Norwegian struck twice in Manchester City\u2019s 3-1 win at Leeds to lift them back up to second in the Premier League.
\nHaaland spent his early years in Yorkshire as his father Alfe Inge played for Leeds, but showed no mercy as City got their title challenge back on track.
\nPep Guardiola\u2019s men moved to within five points of Arsenal at the top of the table as they bounced back from a shock defeat to Brentford before the World Cup.
\nHaaland now has 20 Premier League goals in just 14 appearances since joining City, but was still left unsatisfied after failing to beat Illan Meslier with three one-on-ones.
\n\u201cI could\u2019ve scored five, that\u2019s the truth,\u201d Haaland told Amazon Prime.
\n\u201cWe win, that\u2019s the most important thing. You see Arsenal at the top now, we have to hunt them, but for me as a striker, I could\u2019ve scored a couple more.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s life, I have to practise more.\u201d
\nHaaland should have made his mark inside 45 seconds as he was denied by a fine save from Meslier when clean through.
\nThat set the tone for a first half of frustration for City as a series of glorious chances came and went.
\nMeslier won another battle with Haaland, while two glaring misses from Jack Grealish left Guardiola with his head in his hands.
\nHowever, Leeds crucially failed to hold out until half-time on level terms as the visitors finally made their dominance count in first half stoppage time.
\nKevin De Bruyne opened up the Leeds defence for the opener and when Riyad Mahrez\u2019s shot was parried by Meslier, Rodri swept the rebound into the net.
\nGrealish made some amends for his earlier misses by creating the second with a smart interception and unselfish pass for Haaland to roll into an empty net.
\nThe City star acknowledged his Leeds past by refusing to celebrate, but it did not stop him adding a second on the night from another Grealish cutback.
\n\u201cI have to say, it\u2019s a really special moment in my career,\u201d Haaland said of playing at Elland Road.
\n\u201cIt was in my craziest fantasy I could think of to be at Elland Road and score for Manchester City against Leeds.\u201d
\nLeeds remain perilously poised just two points above the relegation zone, but did at least get a goal to show for their efforts when Pascal Struijk headed in from a corner 17 minutes from time.
\nHaaland did at least spare the home side his fourth Premier League hat-trick with an uncharacteristically weak finish with just Meslier to beat once more.
\nAt the other end Joe Gelhardt\u2019s curling effort was inches away from setting up a grandstand finish.
\nBut a two-goal margin of victory was the very least City\u2019s display deserved as they leapfrogged Newcastle into second in the table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Striker laments not scoring five times in city of his birth as Man City bag 3-1 win to climb to second LEEDS: Erling Haaland lamented not scoring five times in the city of his birth as the Norwegian struck twice in Manchester City\u2019s 3-1 win at Leeds to lift them back up to second in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-304415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n