Erling Haaland has described Manchester City’s season as “horrific” and “boring” owing to the champions losing many games, and said that makes winning Saturday’s FA Cup final against Crystal Palace even more vital.
City, the Premier League title winners of the past four years, are fourth, 18 points behind the champions, Liverpool, having lost nine times. They were eliminated by Real Madrid in the Champions League playoff stage and by Tottenham in the Carabao Cup in the last 16.
“This season has been tough,” Haaland told BBC Sport. “It is not nice to lose so many games, it is boring and not fun. That’s why we need to finish well and get a trophy.
“It is a good habit to reach Wembley and always important to win trophies. We have the FA Cup final to play for and in a horrific season we still managed to do this, that says it all.”
City have 65 points, two more than sixth-placed Aston Villa, so Champions League qualification is in their hands. Haaland said: “When you have won four league titles in a row, if you don’t win five it’s not going to be a successful season. Those are the standards we have set. We haven’t done well enough in the league but we are still hoping for Champions League qualification.
“Crystal Palace are a really difficult club to play against. At Selhurst Park we drew [2-2 in December] and they started really well at the Etihad [in City’s 5-2 win last month]. They are an amazing team with quality players.”
