At their best, Manchester City have one of the most fearsome attacking lineups in world football.
Indeed, when Manchester City are firing on all cylinders, many of their players are unstoppable.
Phil Foden is unplayable on his day, Kevin De Bruyne is an absolute genius, while Jeremy Doku can tie any defender in knots with his dribbling ability.
However, perhaps the most frightening player on Manchester City’s team is Erling Haaland.
Indeed, even Virgil van Dijk hates playing against Haaland, the man is a goalscoring machine, and he’s often a real pain for any centre-back he comes up against.
However, according to Pierre Kalulu, speaking on Juventus’ official YouTube channel, Haaland isn’t actually all that difficult to face off against.
Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
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Pierre Kalulu found Erling Haaland easy to defend
Kalulu was asked to name the toughest striker he’s ever faced.
The Frenchman ultimately said that Victor Osimhen was his toughest opponent, claiming that the Nigerian is a very difficult striker to handle.
The host was surprised that Erling Haaland didn’t get a mention, but according to Kalulu, the £51m man was actually quite easy to deal with when he faced him.
Indeed, Kalulu said that playing against Man City was a strange experience, claiming that the Blues didn’t appear to be in the mood on that day.
“I think Osimhen was the best one, Yeah Osimhen,” Kalulu said when asked to name his toughest opponent.
“Maybe marking Haaland was hard for you too?”
“Yeah, but in this game he was not very strong. He was just playing, you know, like he was playing, maybe City were not in the mood.”
Erling Haaland stats vs Juventus
Kalulu says that he found it easy to deal with Haaland, and it has to be said that the Norwegian was off his game against Juventus earlier this season.
Indeed, that is the only time that Kalulu and Haaland have met, and, on the day, the Norwegian simply didn’t turn up, as the stats show.
Erling Haaland stats vs Juventus
Shots 2
Touches 18
Goals 0
Key passes 0
Passes 9
Pass success rate 56%
WhoScored rating 5.74
Haaland was the lowest rated player on the pitch that day according to WhoScored’s ratings system.
Meanwhile, Kalulu barely had anything to do, as shown by his stats from the match.
Pierre Kalulu stats vs Man City
Tackles 0
Interceptions 0
Clearances 2
Pass success rate 98%
Kalulu says that he found Haaland easy to deal with, and there aren’t many defenders in world football who have the privilege of saying that.
Haaland will certainly want to make Kalulu eat his words should these two ever meet again.