Guardiola reacts to petition to get Haaland banned from playing for Man City

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has laughed off the "joke" online petitions launched by rival fans upset at Erling Haaland's remarkable impact on English football.

Haaland has scored a stunning 19 goals in 12 appearances since arriving at City from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, including three hat-tricks in just eight Premier League games, with his third treble coming in last Sunday's 6-3 victory over Manchester United.

He then added two more goals in a 5-0 Champions League win over Copenhagen on Wednesday, after which visiting goalkeeper Kamil Grabara joked that Haaland "wasn't human" in a conversation with City's Jack Grealish.

At least two online petitions have surfaced in the past week - with one seemingly started by a United fan - calling for Haaland to be banned from English football because his presence is simply not fair on the other teams.

City defender Aymeric Laporte has even joined in the fun by tweeting an image of the petition to Haaland, and Guardiola laughed off the online craze at a press conference on Friday ahead of the weekend visit of Southampton.

"Yeah, it's a joke," said a smiling Guardiola, "it's a joke, it's good."

Guardiola was also questioned on whether he can digest the impact that Haaland has had on his side after appearing to be in disbelief following one of his goals against Copenhagen.

"It is not about disbelief. It is the fact that he has an incredible instinct," he said.

"He has an incredible sense as a striker he goes one second before the ball arrives. These types of player, how can a manager teach him? It is impossible.

"He is a natural. He did it in Norway, Austria [with Red Bull Salzburg], he smells it. Thank you for choosing us [Haaland] we are fortunate to have this talent."

When asked how the Norwegian can improve, Guardiola added: "The connection with Kevin [De Bruyne], Phil [Foden], Riyad [Mahrez], Jack [Grealish].

"Erling when he has the ball he knows what passes I like. He can improve every part of his game. Everyone knows he can do better. We can all improve until we die.

"It will be good for Haaland to break the [Premier League goalscoring] record but any record can be broken. Hopefully he can carry this on.

"After the Community Shield people had a lot of doubts but let's just look at tomorrow and he needs to focus on that. Then at the end of the season he can look at the goals."

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