Man City just won a big 5-2 victory over Juventus in the final match of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup group stage. This was an important milestone in Erling Haaland's career when he scored his 300th career goal at the age of 24. The Norwegian striker has achieved this achievement after only 374 matches, a much higher rate than the two famous legends Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Haaland's 300th goal and celebration are a statement of return, after a season without too much form. After two recent transfer windows with seven new signings and possibly more in the next two months, the Citizens are working hard to regain their position in the Premier League and Champions League.
With the previous generation's key players, especially Kevin De Bruyne, leaving, Erling Haaland himself is the fulcrum for a new era, for young people to continue with Pep Guardiola to start over.
For Pep, he himself described the recent victory over Juventus as the best match Man City have ever had "in a very long time". All the young players, both old and new, played smoothly, coordinated well and flexibly. This is a very good sign for the Etihad team to be confident in their path to building a new generation of squads.
Although he scored only 1 goal out of 5 goals Man City scored against Juventus, Haaland's contribution was much greater. He has known how to play deeper to become an explosive point from outside the box for his teammates. Perhaps Man City fans should be surprised that a pure striker like Haaland can now regulate the tempo of the attack and become such a good ball transit link. Previously, the 24-year-old striker was seen as just a sharp spearhead in the box, everything outside was handled by other midfielders.
In the second half of the match against Juventus alone, Haaland had 17 touches, more than 8 matches in the Premier League last season. Of those eight games, there were two notable defeats to Liverpool (0-2) and Arsenal (15). Those were matches in which Haaland played fully but almost invisibly on the pitch.
"All I can say is congratulate Haaland on his 300th goal. He did it at the age of 24, it was really amazing. I was also a player but only scored 11 goals in 11 years.
This match shows that if Man City are determined, we can do many things. The current players give me the feeling that the team can create the same competitiveness as in previous years.
Man City wants to play and face the high intensity of games like this. We understand that if we cannot do that, the team will suffer defeat. The whole team will have to improve themselves even more.
Of course, the whole team is still aiming to win the FIFA Club World Cup, but the more important thing to do first is to bring everything back together as before" - Pep Guardiola shared after the match.
