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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Nathan Ridley

Alan Shearer sets Erling Haaland challenge after sixth Man City hat-trick in FA Cup rout

Alan Shearer reckons that Erling Haaland could score a mind-boggling 60 goals this season after taking his tally to 42 during Manchester City's 6-0 demolition of Burnley.

Haaland hit a hat-trick as City romped to victory in Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final clash, his sixth treble of the campaign and second in the space of five days. Having scored a whopping five goals on Tuesday as the Citizens beat RB Leipzig 7-0 in the Champions League, and continuing in the same vein at the weekend, legendary English striker Shearer has tipped the 22-year-old sensation to keep banging in the goals between now and June.

"He lives for goals," an astounded Shearer, who remains the Premier League's all-time record goalscorer, told BBC Sport post-match. "Some players might say, 'I wanna get 20 goals a season'. He wants 30, 40, 50, - he might even get 60 goals this season. I mean, it's bonkers. As I said, some are happy with that [20], some are not.

"The greatest and best want more, and more, and more. They're never satisfied because that feeling of scoring a goal, there's nothing like it."

Although Haaland has been breaking records on a regular basis in his first season at City, the Norway international hasn't set himself a target for the remainder of the term. "No, I have not," Haaland admitted. "I'm a striker, I love to score goals, but my focus is not on scoring goals but on getting the chances. If I get the chances, there's a good chance I'll score."

His team-mates have certainly provided the goods this week, as Pep Guardiola's side have scored a total of 13 goals without reply. "It's been a good couple of games – important games," Haaland went on to say. "7-0 and 6-0 before the national team break is impressive. I'm really happy.

Erling Haaland took home the match ball for the second time in five days (Lexy Ilsley - Manchester City/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)

Have your say! How many goals will Haaland finish on this season? Give us your prediction in the comments section.

"Every goal for the team means a lot. It's an amazing win against a really good Burnley side. I'm really happy and our next game is at Wembley. I think we're in the part of the season where we should be at our best. Of course, we should be at our best all the time, but we have to perform every single game. The last couple of games have been finals – that's exactly what we've been doing."

Citizens boss Guardiola echoed the superstar's sentiment, saying: "It's been a good month with Newcastle, Leipzig, Crystal Palace and today it was a good one, a tough game. They went man for man with only [goalkeeper] Stefan Ortega free. We had to play more direct to Erling and the wingers. [The] Second half was much better. I was really impressed."

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