Former Real Madrid Striker Explains Why Julian Alvarez Is Better Than His Man City Teammate Erling Haaland

Former Italy international Antonio Cassano has opined that Manchester City have a better striker in Julian Alvarez than his teammate Erling Haaland. Cassano, a striker himself who played for some elite clubs like Real Madrid, Inter and AC Milan has provided an explanation as well so as to why he feels Alvarez is a better player than the Norwegian.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola had to make do without a proper striker last season, as he only had Gabriel Jesus at his disposal. The Spaniard still managed to win the Premier League, but once again fell short in the Champions League. City as a result brought their manager two brand new strikers in Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez this summer.

Cassano says Erling Haaland ‘not special’ as he lavishes praise on Alvarez

Erling Haaland has been in some form since joining the defending Premier League champions, netting 10 goals in 6 six league outings so far. City are tipped to complete a three-peat of Premier League titles if the 22-year-old continues to deliver such displays. On the other hand, Julian Alvarez, who was brough in from Argentine side River Plate too has netted two goals in four league games.

Alvarez caught the attention of City after he scored an impressive 18 goals in 26 games for River Plate last season. City only had to shell out £14 million in order to bring the 22-year-old to the Etihad. Cassano has now labelled him as a ‘stronger’ player than Haaland, explaining:

“For me, Julian Alvarez is much stronger than [Erling] Haaland. Haaland will score 90 goals, he is very strong, he is a much stronger [Romelu] Lukaku but Alvarez is more of a player than Haaland, qualitatively he is stronger. Haaland is not special, I see Adriano of Inter in Haaland, he has a bit of [Christian] Vieri’s progression.”

Manchester City have no reasons this time to not claim the European trophy after the addition of the £54 million summer recruit from Borussia Dortmund. They have also brought in Alvarez as well as Kalvin Phillips, Manuel Akanji, Sergio Gomez and Stefan Ortega to bolster their squad. However, Pep Guardiola has made it clear that it will take a team effort from his side, rather on depending on Haaland to lift the Champions League trophy. He said:

“If we put everything on Erling’s shoulders, we are not going to win the Champions League. We try to help him score goals. We convinced him to come here as he felt we did not have strikers and he could play with us. I hope he can help us , but we won’t win just because of him and we don’t lose just because of him. He has a special quality and maybe he can solve the problems we have, definitely, but we have to play good as a team as well.”

City kick-off their Champions League campaign away to Sevilla as Guardiola has all of his new signings available to feature against the Spanish side. While he asserts Haaland is no magic wand who would land them the European trophy, Guardiola will still feel he has a complete squad than last season to go all the way in the tournament.