Man City cannot rely on Haaland – Maresca

Enzo Maresca knows Manchester City cannot rely on Erling Haaland to be their only source of goals.

Haaland has made a flying start to 2026-27, already netting 13 goals in 12 games for Man City.

The Norway star has outperformed his 9.1 expected goals, but no other City player has scored more than six goals (Rayan Cherki has six).

Maresca's team have lost their last two Premier League matches, going down 2-1 to Aston Villa - with Haaland scoring - and Brighton.

On Wednesday, they face RB Leipzig in the Champions League.

Haaland has scored 12 goals in eight appearances against Leipzig. His six goals against them in the Champions League are his joint-most against any opponent (also six v Sevilla), while five of them came in a single match, in City's 7-0 win over them in March 2023.

However, Maresca knows City's other attackers must also step up.

"For me, it's very important that in each game, we create chances," Maresca said.

"For sure, when you have Erling on the pitch, it's better because you know he's going to score goals and is always there.

"At the same time, we cannot rely on Erling every game. We need the rest to also score goals. But in this moment, I think the last game against Brighton was the only game of the season when we didn't score. I think so anyway.

"But for sure, if Erling is on the pitch, we're happy."

Third in City's scoring charts this season is Phil Foden (four goals), though the playmaker has been limited to eight starts out of the 11 matches he has featured in.

"I see Phil day by day better and better for sure, 100%," Maresca said of Foden.

"I've already said many times that he is going to give us many things this season.

"We have many games in all competitions and 20 senior players, all of them very good. It's good to have competition between them. Phil and Rayan are more or less in the same position. I'm very happy with the way Phil is working every day."

Foden netted a hat-trick against AEK Athens in City's last Champions League outing, and he is keen to build on what he feels has been a positive start to the campaign.

"I think personally, it's gone really well," he said. 

"Obviously, I had the very unfortunate red card against [Manchester] United, which put the brakes on.

"I think I came back really fresh-minded and sharp, I've been involved in a lot of goals recently, so I've been really happy with my own performances."

Leipzig and City have faced each other six times in European competition (all in the Champions League), with the German side only winning one of those encounters (D1 L4).