Pep Guardiola Talks About Erling Haaland Being Penalty Taker Manchester City: If Someone Takes The Ball, He Will Hit His Teammate In The Face

Manchester City's Erling Haaland. (Photo: Twitter @ManCity)

JAKARTA - Manchester City won the inaugural match of the Premier League 2022/2023. The club nicknamed The Citizens won 2-0 over West Ham United, Sunday, August 7.

In this match, Erling Haaland became a star by scoring two goals. One goal was created from the spot in the 36th minute. While another goal was scored in the 65th minute after utilizing Kevin de Bruyne's bait.

In addition to the two goals he scored, Haaland was also the talk of his move to become Manchester City's penalty taker. The task of executing penalties is usually given to old players, such as Kevin de Bruyne.

Man City manager Pep Guardiola said he was happy with the way Haaland took the penalty. He called the reaction of the former Borussia Dortmund player worthy of great praise.

"The way he took the ball for the penalty, I said 'I like it!' I thought if someone took the ball he would hit his teammate in the face, I'm pretty sure about that and that's a good sign," Guardiola said after the game, as reported by the Daily Star.

"You have to have confidence, ambition and a good mentality, that shows me who I like. And of course, he scores goals!" he continued.

Guardiola admitted that he did not really know the character of his new player. That's understandable because they've only been together about two weeks.

"So we need time in the good times and the bad to see how we react," said Guardiola.

"In terms of the situation and how he handled it, I know how he handled a lot of criticism this week and he is very calm, training very well," continued the Manchester City manager.