Erling Haaland has hit out at he and his Manchester City team-mates for the nature of their ’embarrassing’ 3-1 Champions League defeat at Bodo/Glimt.
City were comfortably beaten in Norway as two goals from Kasper Hogh and a beautiful Jens Petter Hauge strike consigned them to a shock defeat on Tuesday night.
Rayan Cherki pulled one back on the hour-mark for the visitors but any hope of a comeback was evaporated when Rodri was sent off after collecting two yellow cards in 54 seconds.
Reflecting on the manner of their loss, Haaland did not hold back – labelling it as ‘not good enough’ and apologising to the City supporters who made the trip to Scandinavia.
‘I think we did our best but there’s something that’s missing,’ he conceded to TNT Sports.
‘I take full responsibility, together with Rodri, Tijjani [Reijnders], our experienced players.
Erling Haaland has blasted he and his Manchester City team-mates for their loss at Bodo/Glimt
Haaland and his team-mates were comprehensively beaten 3-1 in their Champions League trip
‘I don’t want to blame anyone but we need to take more responsibility because in the end it’s not good enough. We’re Man City. We can’t go around and not win games. It shouldn’t be like this and in the end, it’s deserved.
‘I don’t have the answers and take full responsibility for not scoring the goals. All I can do is apologise to every single Man City supporter who travelled today because it’s embarrassing.
‘In the end, Bodo played some incredible football and it was deserved. Honestly I don’t know what to say because I don’t have the answers. Sorry.’
The striker’s frustrations, mirror that of manager Pep Guardiola’s who admitted City are fragile after a shock defeat in the Arctic Circle – but insisted that they are not playing as poorly as results suggest.
The defeat at Bodo/Glimt means City’s hopes of smooth passage into the last 16 will be dependent on the final group stage game against Galatasaray next Wednesday.
City have won just two of their last seven games in all competitions with the loss in Norway compounded after Saturday’s comprehensive Manchester derby defeat.
‘Of course we lost and everything since the new year is against (us) in many, many things,’ Guardiola said.
Pep Guardiola has rued City’s fortunes – saying that they feel like ‘everything is going wrong’
‘We have the feeling that everything is going wrong in many details and we have to try and change it but the players are there. I didn’t underestimate Bodo, I know how good a team they are.’
Guardiola was without 11 players through injury, suspension or ineligibility for the defeat, with Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi available for Saturday’s clash with Wolves.
The City boss added: ‘We arrived in some departments without important players and they are a little bit fragile like they were last season in a certain period. But how they fought, 10 against 11 – a lot of players made a step up.’
