Rafael van der Vaart does not have a high opinion of Erling Braut Haaland. The Manchester City striker was virtually invisible on Tuesday evening during the quarter-final of the Champions League against Real Madrid (3-3) and suffered a loss of ball. According to Van der Vaart, his teammates even skipped Haaland on purpose at one point.

“I thought he was very bad,” Van der Vaart begins during the afterthought Ziggo Sports. “If Haaland doesn't score, then he isn't of much use. Of course he is fast and works hard, but I thought he was very mediocre on the ball.”

“If you are really that good and everyone is talking about you, then you must have these kind of balls. That also has a bit to do with quality,” says Van der Vaart, while images are shown where Haaland loses a duel to his guard Antonio Rüdiger after a long ball from goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.

Presenter Wytse van der Goot then points out that Haaland is now also known that as a footballer he is not among the world's top, but as a goalscorer he is 'the best'. “It could be a bit better, because it looked very clumsy tonight (Tuesday, ed.), I thought,” Van der Vaart responds.

“Whether Haaland can last another fifteen years at the absolute top? He scores goals very easily and he plays in a great team, so he will definitely score his goals. Now Manchester City only really needed a striker who could hold the balls and who could combine,” says the analyst.

Van der Vaart even had the idea that Haaland's teammates skipped him on purpose at one point. “They were able to play it a few times and then they thought: forget it.. You have a lot of strikers who score goals and are not involved much in the field game, but Haaland was the worst in this first match.”

Haaland has already scored six goals this Champions League campaign. The only one he currently has to tolerate on the top scorer list is Harry Kane, who scored his seventh goal in the club tournament with a penalty against Arsenal on Tuesday evening.

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