Pep Guardiola looked tired when he took his seat on the dais at the Parc des Princes. His right eye was red. He sounded as if he had a virus. He sounded like a man low on sleep and high on worry.
Erling Haaland came in next. He looked like a million dollars.
‘Hello, bonjour,’ he said with a big grin. It was a nine-and-a-half-year, £250million grin, the kind you wear when you have just signed one of the most lucrative deals in sporting history and life feels good.
Haaland does not appear too often on occasions like this but he batted away questions about the 115 Premier League charges Manchester City are facing as if they were six-yard-box tap-ins. Nothing fazed him, not even a mention of the threat that City could be relegated if found guilty.
‘I haven’t thought of that or anything,’ Haaland said breezily. ‘I’m confident the club know what they’re doing. I shouldn’t speak too much about it, I’ve only been here two-and-a-half years.’
It was probably just what City needed, this bullish performance from a goalscoring machine who will be at the heart of their future. Haaland exuded certainty at a time when City have been plagued by doubt.
Erling Haaland looked a million dollars as he spoke ahead of Manchester City’s game vs PSG
The forward has put pen to paper on new nine-and-a-half year contract with Manchester club
The forward is not concerned the threat that City could be relegated if they are found guilty of breaching 115 charges
The Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday evening finds them in an unusually precarious position, with City knowing that simply qualifying for the next round of the competition is in jeopardy.
If they do not beat the French champions — managed by Guardiola’s friend and former Barcelona team-mate Luis Enrique — they will go into their final game of the league phase, at home to Club Bruges next week, in serious danger of missing out on the top-24 finish required to reach next month’s play-offs.
City have taken a meagre eight points from their opening six games but PSG, who are top of the French league, are in an even more parlous position outside the qualifying places.
For both teams, both state-owned behemoths, the idea of not even making the knockout rounds of Europe’s premier club tournament is unthinkable.
City will need Haaland to pay back the first instalment of that new deal straight away. Haaland smiled at that thought. He was as expert at being non-committal as he is at smashing in a left-foot volley.
Had he thought about his chances now of breaking Alan Shearer’s Premier League record of 260 goals, he was asked. ‘No, not really,’ he said.
There didn’t seem any point asking him whether he had thought about breaking Jimmy Greaves’ English top-flight record of 357 goals — although that, too, could be within reach if he stays at City for the length of his contract and City continue to be the force they are now.
Haaland, 24, spoke as if everything about signing his new contract had been gloriously simple. The Norwegian laughed off any idea he might have had a dream of playing for Real Madrid or Barcelona like so many other players do.
Haaland revealed he has ‘not really’ thought about breaking Alan Shearer’s Premier League goal scoring record
He laughed off any idea that he could one day want to play for Real Madrid or Barcelona
‘I just signed a nine-year deal,’ Haaland said, grinning again. ‘What do you want me to say? Of course I’m happy. I’m super happy with my choice and looking forward to many years in Manchester.’
He was confident, he said, that the dip in form that startled so many observers and saw City fall so far behind Liverpool at the top of the Premier League, and struggle in the Champions League, was behind them.
‘I feel a really positive energy in the club,’ said Haaland. ‘It’s been a hard period, everyone knows that. We’ve trained really good, we’re over that now and we’re looking ahead, look forward to tomorrow.’
Instead of uncertainty, Haaland radiated control and confidence and indomitability. Dressed all in black, he exuded the same kind of confidence he showed in the club video last week that celebrated his new deal.
‘When I signed for City I felt like it was home,’ Haaland said. ‘I really meant it. I feel so happy, my family is so happy. In the end, that is what I wanted.
‘I really look forward to spending so many more years in Manchester. It’s going to be amazing.
‘It’s a really good sign that they gave me such a long contract. Of course, it’s a bit unusual. That’s also something I like. In the end it felt good for both parties. It was an easy choice.
‘Now I want to take good care of my body. I try to do everything I can to be available for the club, the team. I’ve probably changed a few things. I started measuring my sleep to make sure I was sleeping well and that was true.’
Haaland described City as home’ and revealed he is keen to ‘take good care of my body’
When the press conference was over, he got up and walked off with that familiar swagger. This is not a man who has signed one of the biggest contracts in sport to be pressing his nose up against the glass when the knockout stages of the Champions League roll around.
Everything about him here suggested PSG may be coming up against Haaland, and City, at just the wrong time.
