“IF WE rely only on Erling [Haaland’s] shoulders, we are not going to win the Champions League,” said Pep Guardiola as his Manchester City side kicked off their latest attempt to win European football’s most coveted trophy.

And though the phenomenal 22-year-old striker has begun his City career in emphatic fashion, his Catalan coach has a point.

Haaland’s previous club, Borussia Dortmund, were proof that the Norwegian goal-getter alone is not enough to win the title his team crave. Dortmund failed to overcome Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga, even with such an unusually prolific goalscorer in their ranks.

But City are a different proposition. They already have quality throughout the team and there’s a sense that even if Haaland cannot win the club their first Champions League title on his own, the combination of him and, perhaps the midfield version of him, Kevin De Bruyne, can.

“I try to do my job, make the right movements and create as many chances as I can,” De Bruyne said of the link-up with his new teammate.

“I know, one way or the other, Erling is going to be there.

“For the moment, he’s scoring the goals and that helps us win games. It’s a perfect start for him.”

Guardiola has been keen to talk up other players during Haaland’s prolific start to City life, but it’s difficult for the focus not to fall on their new, extraordinary striker.

It was around 2018, playing for Molde in his native Norway, that Haaland really began to catch the eye in senior football.

Then aged 17, the characteristics seen in Haaland’s game today were already evident, and he scored goals for fun at youth level as a result.

This soon translated to first-team football, and his four goals in the space of 17 minutes in a game for Molde against Brann in 2018 was a sign of the ridiculous levels of goalscoring to come at the top level.

Back then, the forward was still known as Erling Braut Haland, with a ring over the first “a” — a common Norwegian letter — and the middle name often included.

But the more high profile he got, the more goals he scored, and the more international coverage he received, his name was simplified for ease of media coverage to Erling Haaland.

He represented Norway in the 2019 U20 World Cup in Poland, where he was the tournament’s top scorer with nine goals. The remarkable thing was that all nine came in a single game against Honduras.

Having moved from Molde to Austrian side RB Salzburg, he began to score at a rate of more than a goal per game, reminiscent of his exploits in youth football, and scored a hat-trick on his Champions League debut.

Two goals for Manchester City against Sevilla on Tuesday took his Champions League tally to 25 goals in 20 games across his spells at Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund, and City, and he also has 10 goals in six Premier League appearances for his new club. These competitions aren’t supposed to be this easy.

Haaland already had an attachment to City through his father, Alf-Inge, who played for the club in the Premier League in the 2000/01 season.

Aged 16, Haaland told the Norwegian newspaper, Aftenposten, that he wanted to win the Premier League with another of his dad’s former clubs, Leeds United, with Leeds also being the city in which Haaland was born.

But on arriving in Manchester he clarified his allegiances, saying: “I was born in England. I have been a City fan my whole life. I know a lot about the club.

“I feel at home here, and I feel I can develop and get the best out of my game at City.”

And he certainly has. Players often need time to settle in a new league, and there is often a bedding-in period at City while players get used to Guardiola’s tactics. But even if Haaland is still settling in, he is managing to score goals while doing so.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” said Guardiola this week. “It’s not just the two goals, it’s the way he’s always there.

“There’s always the feeling that he could score more goals. His numbers, all of his career, even for previous teams, are quite similar. He has an incredible sense of goal.”

Haaland’s natural goalscoring ability is aided by a combination of physique and technique. He has the speed and intelligent running of a nippy poacher combined with the strength of a target man, and a powerful shot to boot.

It seems likely his goals will propel City to another Premier League title, and that he appears to be able to score in any circumstances against any opponents, could see them finally claim the Champions League.

Guardiola may not want to rest everything on Haaland’s shoulders, but he might just be able to rely on his left foot.