UAE Pro League completes preparations for World League Forum

With Cristiano Ronaldo celebrating his 700th career goal with Manchester United’s winning goal at Everton last weekend, it seemed hard to imagine any modern striker coming close to the Portuguese icon’s feat.

But at neighbours Manchester City, there is a man who may have the age and ability to challenge current goalscorers like Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

With 20 goals in his first 13 games – a career tally of 155 – Haaland has been outstanding since his £51.2m summer move from Borussia Dortmund.

This comes as no surprise to Manchester City team-mate Bernardo Silva, who also believes the 22-year-old Norwegian striker has the potential to make the same impact as 37-year-old Ronaldo.

“You never know what’s going to happen, Erling is still young and has a lot to do, but the mentality is there, so yes,” said Bernardo, who played for Portugal with Ronaldo.

“I’m playing with Erling[for Manchester City]so I hope so. But the standards are so high – Cristiano has won five Ballon d’Or, six Champions Leagues – but I’m impressed with Erling .

“Honestly, I was talking to a few friends the other day and I said he was the only player who came close to Cristiano in terms of knowing where the ball was going to land in the box.

“He has that smell of knowing where it falls and he’s quick and strong, which isn’t easy for a defender.”

Haaland will score in his fifth consecutive Premier League away game when Manchester City visit Liverpool on Sunday.

He has scored 15 league goals in nine appearances thanks to hat-tricks against Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and a 6-3 win over Manchester United in the Manchester derby.

“We know what’s coming next, what kind of player he is, his ambitions,” added Bernardo, 28, who also plays with France striker Kylian Mbappe in Monaco.

“You look at his face in the game and he just wants to fight for it and win the game for us – and he’s a really good guy too.

“You never know what a new player is going to get, so getting a player of his quality, with such a good guy, is the most important thing for the team.

Bernardo said he was “surprised” by Haaland’s modesty and how he accepted he was just a player in the team.

“If you see him running in the game, he’s going to press like a beast, like every one of us – it’s top class.

“It doesn’t matter how good or how good you are with humility, but the more you have to set an example, the more you have to play for the team – that’s what he did.”

Despite winning back-to-back league titles, Haaland looks to have taken Guardiola’s side to another level.

“We’ve always had good results over the last few years, but it’s true that now our forwards are so strong and big, and other teams are a little worried about that,” Bernardo told Arab News exclusively. .

“But the way we play is the same and we are happy with the recent results,” Bernardo said. “Personally, I feel that if I and the other midfielders and defenders can do our job well, then our frontcourt will be of high quality.

“There are guys like Kevin (De Bruyne), Phil (Foden) and Erling who can decide the game and they can handle the rest.

“But we have to do the proper work, control the tempo of the game, and then we know what weapons we have ahead of us.”

Unbeaten this season, Manchester City are one point behind league leaders Arsenal but 13 ahead of Liverpool.

But as Manchester City’s main title challenger for the past five seasons, Bernardo said it would be foolish to rule out the Reds, who showed recovery by beating Rangers 7-1 in the Champions League in midweek.

“When the season started, we struggled a little bit and still won games but it didn’t feel perfect,” he added. “That’s how it feels right now, the team is good.

“The confidence level is good, we’re scoring goals rather than conceding and being consistent in the game. But it’s just the beginning and we have to keep playing like that.

“It’s still going to be tough, we’re going to have tough opponents like Liverpool . . . we know how tough it is for them.

“They’ve been our biggest opponents for the past five years and it’s always been a challenge to play against them. Liverpool is a very important game for us.

“Honestly, it doesn’t make any difference how they started, what their form is like. What they’ve done in the last five years, you can’t look at them and think, ‘Oh, they’re a little weaker now. No, No chance. They are so strong and it will be very difficult for us.”

Liverpool signed Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunes in the summer but bought from Bernardo’s former club Benfica for a club-record £85m, he has scored four times and made his home debut against Crystal Palace Sent off with a red card.

“He joined from my old team Benfica, so I know him very well because I have watched all the Portuguese games,” added Bernardo. “He’s a quick player with the ability to know where the ball is going to land and score goals.”

“Sometimes it’s not easy to change the country, to change the culture. He still has to learn a new language and adapt to a new style of play.

“I think he’ll fit in and he’ll get where he wants to go. Hopefully not because I’m on the other side of the competition, but I see a lot of quality in Darwin.”

Manchester City famously struggled at Anfield as they won the league 4-1 in 2021, their third victory in 65 years, Bernardo said: “We know that at Anfield and they how difficult it is to play with the fans, but we will try.”

“We feel good now, we go there and win as usual. We’ve tried to win there in the past and just can’t. We’ve only won one season there for many reasons, under different circumstances, but the team feels good.

“Our confidence is very high and we will be fully prepared.”

While City have yet to win the Champions League, Bernardo has lifted nine trophies, including four Premier League titles, since joining from Monaco in 2017.

He insists their mentality has not changed. “We want to win as many titles as possible this season,” added the midfielder, who has decided to stay at City this summer despite links to Barcelona.

“We’re going to try to win everyone, win everyone like every season. So this season is no exception and we’re not going to change.

“The Premier League is the most important league, the Champions League is something we’ve been after for a long time – we haven’t done it yet.

“There are other cups that are important – the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup – we have the World Cup in the middle of the season, so there are a lot of things to think about.

“We just have to keep going. It’s only October, there’s still a long way to go and a lot of games to play. It’s not going to be an easy season, but we’re doing well so far.”