Erling Haaland admitted that a lack of hunger this season is behind the failed Premier League challenge of Manchester City.
The Norwegian added that his own personal performances were not aware, despite the scoring of 30 goals in all competitions in a season that was stuck by an injury that was picked up in the win in Bournemouth at the end of March in the FA Cup.
The men of Pep Guardiola can still lift silverware in the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace this month, but their run of four Premier League titles is over, while they were beaten from the Champions League in the play-off round.
In conversation with ESPN, Haaland said that injuries-included Ballon d'Or winning midfielder Rodri-Niet can be used as an excuse not to compete for the two biggest prices this term.
He said: “Of course you can apologize, injuries, many injuries on bad times, but in the end we did not perform well enough.
“We have not been completely hungry in us. I have not been good enough. I did not help the team enough. In the end we have not been good enough.”
Vintage @erlinghaaland pic.twitter.com/x915px6yby
– Manchester City (@Mancity) May 8, 2025
Haaland hurt his ankle in the victory over Bournemouth, but returned to training and was an unused replacement when City beat the previous time-out with 1-0.
The former Borussia Dortmund -Spits could perform against Southampton this weekend with a view to building up his fitness for the Wembley Pronunter with Palace on 17 May.
“It was terrible to be injured, but what can you do?”, Haaland added.
“You have to recover as quickly as possible and return as fit as possible as you can. Now I am back with a lot of energy.
“I feel good and move well and I'm ready.”