Pep Guardiola responds to pundits’ criticism of the “exceptional” Erling Haaland after Jamie Carragher insisted the Manchester City star has yet to become a “world-class” player.

Pep Guardiola has come out in defense of Erling Haaland after Jamie Carragher claimed the Manchester City striker needs to change if he wants to win the Ballon d’Or.

Haaland has a magnificent tally of 82 goals in 90 appearances for City since the start of last season.

The Norwegian’s all-round game has faced criticism in recent weeks, especially after the Premier League’s top scorer struggled to make an impact in the goalless draw against Arsenal last month.

His performance led former Man United captain Roy Keane to rate Haaland’s overall game as “like a League Two player”.

Carragher said after another quiet performance from Haaland in the 3-3 draw with Real Madrid that he is a “world-class finisher” but that his overall game needs to improve.

Carragher stated that Haaland needs to add more to his game if he wants to win the Ballon d’Or

The former Liverpool defender wrote in The Telegraph: ‘Erling Haaland is the luxury footballer par excellence. He is undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest goalscorers, but he has not yet become a world-class player.
“If your only interest is breaking scoring records, you don’t need to change anything. If you have serious ambitions to win the Ballon d’Or and play for Real Madrid, you may have a problem.

“He must contribute more to his game to take that leap and seriously challenge his rival for the title of best player of his generation, Kylian Mbappé.”

Guardiola came to Haaland’s defense by praising the striker’s “exceptional” contribution to Manchester City’s attack, claiming the Norwegian has helped create space for others in the team to thrive.

“He helps us make more spaces in the areas and his contribution has been exceptional from the first day he arrived,” Guardiola said.

‘They [pundits] do what they want. That is not a problem. They have an opinion, I have an opinion and it doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong.

‘If I give an opinion, it seems like I want to criticize the experts, but I don’t. We can agree or disagree.

Pep Guardiola has come out in defense of Haaland and has praised the forward’s contribution

“We are quite similar to last season: we scored four goals, four goals and three goals in the last three games.” [against Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Real Madrid] – 11 goals in three games and Erling helped us score some of them by creating space for others to score.

“I saw it in his face and in what he said after the game in the locker room. [after Madrid] I was extremely happy.

“The goal is not the Ballon d’Or, the goal is to win trophies and he achieved it. Would we have won five trophies last year without him? No way.”

Haaland is likely to return to action when Manchester City take on Luton in the Premier League on Saturday, as the reigning champions aim to maintain their title challenge.