Man City striker Erling Haaland has been told by Wayne Rooney why he and Kylian Mbappe will never reach the heights of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
The Citizens have had a poor season by their standards with Pep Guardiola’s side failing to challenge for the Premier League title despite winning the prevous four.
Man City are currently facing a battle to make the top five places, which would guarantee Champions League football next term, with the Citizens sixth heading into their final two matches.
Guardiola’s side, who lost to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final on Saturday, are three points behind second-placed Arsenal and one point off third-placed Newcastle United.
Man City are also just a point adrift of Chelsea and Aston Villa, who occupy fourth and fifth, but the Citizens have a game in hand on both those sides.
Haaland missed the whole of April because of an injury and his form in the second half of the season has not quite matched his incredible start to the campaign.
The Norway international has still scored an impressive 21 goals in 29 matches for Man City but it is not the 36 goals in 35 matches seen in his first season at the Etihad Stadium.
And former Man Utd striker Rooney was shocked to see Haaland allow Omar Marmoush take City’s penalty as they lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace on Saturday at Wembley.
Marmoush’s spot-kick was saved by Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson to maintain Palace’s advantage and Rooney insists Haaland will never get to Messi or Ronaldo’s levels after giving the penalty away.
Rooney said on BBC Sport: “Erling Haaland is a world-class forward, but when we’re talking about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, there’s no way they’re giving that ball away.
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“That’s what separates those two players from Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe and these players. They are selfish and they want to score every game. When he (Haaland) misses chances I think you can see it gets to him and it does affect him.
“Maybe the thought of taking a penalty at Wembley might have been too much for him. You never know, he’s a human being.”
Eberechi Eze had given Palace the lead on 16 minutes before Marmoush missed his penalty before half-time and Guardiola said: “I thought Erling would want to take the penalty but we didn’t speak after the game. These are things for them.
“That moment is about the feeling and how they feel. They decided Omar was ready to take it. Omar took a lot of time when the game was stopped and it put more pressure on him – and Henderson made a good save.”