Haaland is on the level of Messi and Ronaldo — Pep Guardiola

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has made a bold comparison between his current marksman Erling Haaland and the two most dominant goalscorers of the past decade, Messi and Ronaldo, after the Norwegian's dominant performance against Southampton. 

Haaland scored twice as Manchester City brushed past Southampton 4-1 to keep pace with league leaders Arsenal in the race for the Premier League trophy. 

Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne combined to score Manchester City's first goal just before halftime. Jack Grealish added a second goal in the 58th minute of play to increase the visitors' advantage.

In an impressive display of agility, Haaland converted Grealish's cross with a bicycle kick to score his two goals and Manchester City's third.

Sekou Mara earned a point for the home team, but Julian Alvarez scored again from the penalty spot in the 75th minute to restore the three-goal advantage.

Pep was in awe of his striker's finishing ability, and he raved particularly about his second goal of the game, which came via a bicycle kick. 

He told BBC Match of the Day that he thought Haaland was super talented before going on to compare him with Messi and Ronaldo. 

He said at being a goal scorer, he believes Haaland is on the level of Messi and Ronaldo, the most prolific goal scorers of the last two decades.  

"The second goal was amazing. It is not easy to pick the ball up in the sky and put it on the grass,” he said, per the BBC.

“His talent is really good. We need him. The first half was not our best level but he changed the game. As a top scorer we lived two incredible decades with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi but he is on that level. 

“He scores a lot of goals. I am very happy with 65 minutes after injury and he helped us again."