Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has explained why he chose to substitute Erling Haaland following their 7-0 obliteration of RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The Sky Blues slotted seven goals past the Bundesliga side to progress to the quarter-finals of the one competition that has eluded Pep since he arrived in Manchester, with Haaland grabbing a first-half hattrick and then another two all in the space of 35 minutes. Sheesh.
Even before finishing five, Haaland’s hattrick saw him break the record for the youngest player to reach 30 goals in the Champions League (22 years, 236 days), beating fellow young phenomenon Kylian Mbappe by 116 days. However, his manager chose to sub him off before he could reach another.
Speaking to media afterwards, Pep explained that beyond giving him a rest or making sure he didn’t pick an unnecessary injury, he chose to withdraw Haaland because the game was over and he wanted “[them] to play”, as well to avoid any unreasonable criticism given the ridiculous bar he has set himself.
'The problem is every time we don't score 2 or 3 goals, Haaland will be criticised!' | Pep Guardiola
The 52-year-old went on to explain that while his numerous hattricks this season and now five goals in one game are obviously thrilling, “the problem is every time we don’t score two or three he will be criticised. This is the reality.”, insists Pep.
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Unfortunately for City fans and neutrals alike watching on in disbelief, if Haaland had stayed on and scored just one more — a double hattrick (silly that they were even considering these phrases) — he would have beaten Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano’s record for most goals in a single UCL match.
Alas, it wasn’t to be and while many joked that the Spaniard was protecting Messi‘s record by not letting his star man score six (Pep insisting he had no idea of the stat), even he quipped that “if he achieves this milestone at 22, 23, it will be boring his life. He wouldn’t have a target to reach in the future.”
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The goals began to dry up after the Norwegian number nine was hooked off and one thing’s for sure, he certainly didn’t want to be taken off, noting to BT Sport that he told Pep when he went off, “I would love to score a double hattrick, but what can we do? I have to go”.
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 14, 2023
Ah well, he still managed to reach multiple milestones on the night. As well as becoming the youngest to reach 30 UCL goals, he also did it in the fewest amount of games in history (25), beating Ruud van Nistelrooy who did it in 30.
As if that wasn’t enough, his fifth goal also saw him well surpass Tommy Johnson for the most goals scored by a City player in a single season (38), not to mention the only player to ever score that amount in the Champions League for the club and just third player to ever do so in the tournament.
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Truly unbelievable stuff.
Now on 39 goals and five assists in just 36 games across all competition this season, our early season prediction of Haaland scoring more than 50 goals now seems almost too conservative. The better question is how many records will he end up breaking before the year is out?
Man City now progress into the Champions League quarter-final yet again with the draw set for 11am on Friday, 17 March. They could face any one of the following teams:
Chelsea
Benfica
Milan
Bayern Munich
Inter
Napoli/Frankfurt
Real Madrid/Liverpool
Guardiola was once again asked if he thinks his side can finally win their first Champions League, having admitted earlier in the week that he will be judged by many “as a failure” if he does not win it.
In a rather unusual moment, Pep said that even winning wouldn’t make up for the time his “idol” Julia Roberts came to Manchester and watched United over City in 2016. Guess he’s just a really big Pretty Woman fan?…
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"She was my idol" 😔
Pep Guardiola says even a Champions League win with Man City wouldn't make up for being snubbed by Julia Roberts 😅#BBCFootballpic.twitter.com/IggEna2XcW
Tyson Fury has officially revealed his comeback fight after coming out of ‘retirement’ once again
Danny Jones
Tyson Fury has officially announced the opponent for his comeback fight after yet again returning to professional boxing.
Fury supposedly ‘retired’ for seemingly the umpteenth time last January following his second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk the month prior, and some even believed it might have actually been his final outing.
Nevertheless, ‘The Gypsy King’ said he was coming out of retirement once more earlier this year, and now his next match-up has been confirmed.
Revealing the other contender as Aslanbek Makhmudo, the fight will be aired live on Netflix only.
Tyson Fury is coming home.
TYSON FURY vs. ARSLANBEK MAKHMUDOV. Saturday April 11 from the United Kingdom — and LIVE only on Netflix. pic.twitter.com/ib7KjT3xIt
Partnered exclusively with boxing magazine, Ring, the bout between Fury and Makhmudo is the latest big fight night to be picked up by the streaming giants.
The most recent example was, obviously, Anthony Joshua’s brutal knockout of influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul this past December.
Makhmudo, just a year younger than his opposite number, is a fellow experienced heavyweight based mainly out of Canada with a decent pedigree of his own.
The Russian, simply known as ‘The Lion’, has a record of 21 wins – more than half of those coming by KO.
With that in mind, he presents a potentially exciting prospect for the famous Manchester fighter, who hasn’t won a proper competitive fight since the defence of his WBC belt against Derek Chisora in December 2022.
Similarly, this should at least see two very well-seasoned pros going head to head.
Many fight fans would argue that there haven’t been enough proper big heavyweight dates since Fury vs Usyk, and even then, we are still yet to get a date for the all-but fully confirmed final fight of the trilogy.
Fury himself did state that the conclusion of their clash is scheduled for this April, but nothing official has been set in stone by any promotion or venue and the new date means it’s even less likely to be any time soon; meanwhile, plenty are still hoping for AJ vs Fury.
The 37-year-old will take on Makhmudo on Saturday, 11 April, and you can bet the world will be watching.
Manchester City finally release special Year of the Horse collection for Lunar celebrations
Danny Jones
Manchester City have officially launched their new ‘Year of the Horse’ kit, along with several other items in their latest lifestyle range.
The collection, which has been released as part of the Lunar New Year Celebrations, was leaked online in late 2025 before being officially teased earlier this year, but now Man City have fully unveiled the limited edition clothing items.
It follows the commercial success of their previous Chinese New Year-inspired kits and wider fashion lines over the last few seasons.
For anyone not up to speed on their Zodiac calendar knowledge, 2026 is officially (you guessed it) the year of the horse, hence this choice for the new ‘Capsule Collection’.
“Set in earthy, neutral tones, the limited-edition Year of the Horse Capsule Collection captures both the stillness of vintage Chinese portraiture and the motion of a team in full stride.”
Revolving around a grey and almost beige colour palette, the full drop includes a new pre-match ‘Anthem’ jacket, a dark graphic design tee, a baseball cap, as well as a soft horse plushie.
The focal point, however, is obviously the jersey itself – though it remains to be confirmed whether or not the special seasonal strip will be worn in any games this campaign as other one-off/special limited edition shirts have been in the past.
The price points range from £15 for the soft toy to £90 for the adult shirt, with the aforementioned Puma KING Anthem zip-up jacket already available in six colours.
What do you make of the latest lifestyle collection, Blues?
Somewhat fittingly, the Year of the Horse and other items finally debuted on the same day that their local rivals across the other side of town, Manchester United, released some new threads of their own: the second Adidas x The Stone Roses collection.
As for this years Lunar celebrations, the official plans for here in Manchester city centre have now been revealed. You can find out more down below.
Danny Jones -
15th March 2023 
