Bundesliga
Erling Haaland: "I have to improve everywhere"
Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland is looking ahead to his second full season in the Bundesliga after firing home 27 goals in just 28 league games in 2020/21. Despite his incredible scoring record, the 21-year-old wants yet more.
"If I'd taken all my chances, I would've been the top scorer. But I wasn't. So I have to make sure of my performances and get even better."
Haaland may have 40 goals in 43 Bundesliga games to his name, but the Dortmund striker finished third behind 41-goal record-scoring Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt's Andre Silva, who bagged 28 in last season's scoring charts.
Watch: Haaland's first full Bundesliga season!
With the 2021/22 season less than three weeks away and pre-season training in full swing, BVB's No.9 is cutting no corners in his relentless pursuit of perfection.
"One of the goals for the coming season is to score more goals with my right foot," said Haaland with a chuckle as he spoke to media at Dortmund's summer training camp in Bad Ragaz, Austria. "But also more goals with the head and more goals with the left foot. I have to improve everywhere!"
Haaland won his first major honour with Dortmund last term, BVB beating RB Leipzig 4-2 to lift the DFB Cup. While the hero of that night, Jadon Sancho, has left the club for Manchester United, Haaland has been able to welcome a familiar face to the Signal Iduna Park over the summer in the form of Marco Rose.
Rose was Haaland's first coach at Red Bull Salzburg but made just five first-team appearances under his stewardship in the six months before Rose left to join Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2019. Haaland is in full belief that the German tactician is the right man to lead Die Schwarzgelben forward.
"I know him from Salzburg," he said. "I also know all the assistants, that's good. I didn't play much in Salzburg when he was coach there. Let's see how it goes now, I hope he'll let me play (laughs).
"As a team, we want to play more stable, get more wins and have fewer issues in our performances. I believe in Marco Rose. If you look at how he played there in Salzburg, there were 11 players who ran and fought for each other."
If Rose can get Dortmund's 11 players on the field running and fighting for each other, alongside Haaland's desire to score with left or right foot and head as well, then it should be another successful season for BVB.