Theo Janssen does not understand why Pep Guardiola decided on Tuesday evening to substitute Erling Braut Haaland early on Tuesday evening. The manager of Manchester City took his striker off after 63 minutes during the Champions League match with RB Leipzig (7-0 win). At that point, Haaland had already scored five times and was deprived of the chance to shoot a Champions League record from the history books.
With his five goals against RB Leipzig, Haaland equaled Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano, who both also scored five times in one Champions League match before. Janssen thinks Guardiola Haaland may have made an early substitution because of Messi’s record. “I hope he doesn’t think that way,” Janssen added RTL. “But Messi is of course a greatness and for Guardiola he is the greatest and best player ever. But maybe he wants to protect him.”
Erling Haaland was taken off early, but why? Did Guardiola want to protect Lionel Messi’s record? #UCL #MCIRBL pic.twitter.com/QeJrG73zPU
— VTBL ? (@vtbl) March 14, 2023
Ron Vlaar, who also attended the Champions League match between City and Leipzig RTL 7 did not think Guardiola was busy with Messi’s record. “I can’t imagine that you are consciously working on that record during a match. According to presenter Humberto Tan, however, there is no reason to justify his early substitution, as Haaland was able to become the record holder on his own. Hedwiges Madudo had also hoped that Guardiola would keep the Norwegian striker on the field longer. “You have to feel it a little bit, right? Let him play another ten, fifteen minutes longer. Then each teammate goes looking for an assist, which allows him to score a sixth goal.
Guardiola praised his pupil after the game. “I know that Haaland has equaled Messi’s record, of course I remember! It’s unbelievable that he did it in sixty minutes. Erling is young… if he breaks that record at the age of 22, life will be boring. Now he has one more goal to work towards. I took him off because the game was over,” Guardiola said. “The problem is that he gets criticized as soon as he doesn’t score two or three goals. Today he made five in thirty to 35 ball contacts. That is what we want, but it is not easy.”