"Haaland is not special" - Ex-Real Madrid star says Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez is a better player than Norwegian hitman

Former Real Madrid, Inter & AC Milan forward Antonio Cassano believes that Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez is a better player than Erling Haaland, claiming the Norwegian superstar is 'not special'.

Alvarez, 22, joined Manchester City from River Plate ahead of the 2022-23 season after a £15.30 million deal was finalized in January this year. The Argentine forward has netted three times for Pep Guardiola's side in just 179 minutes of action across all competitions.

Haaland, on the other hand, arrived at the Etihad Stadium from Borussia Dortmund for £54 million in June. After a toothless debut in the Community Shield, he has scored a whopping 10 goals in just six Premier League matches. He has also bagged two hat tricks in the process.

ℹ️ Most goals before turning 22:

⚽️2⃣3⃣ Erling Haaland
⚽️2⃣1⃣ Kylian Mbappé
⚽️1⃣7⃣ Lionel Messi
⚽️1⃣3⃣ Karim Benzema

@ErlingHaaland | #UCL https://t.co/u5qC8htlu0

Speaking on Bobo TV on Twitch (via Daily Star), Cassano compared the two attackers and lauded Alvarez. He elaborated:

"For me, Julian Alvarez is much stronger than 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."

He added:

"Haaland is not special, I see Adriano of Inter in Haaland, he has a bit of [Christian] Vieri's progression."

While former injury-plagued Brazilian striker Adriano scored 99 goals in 193 matches, former Italy international Christian Vieri netted 153 times in 250 appearances during his club career.

Meanwhile, Haaland has already outshone both the aforementioned players at club level. He boasts a better goal-per-game than Adriano and Vieri, scoring 145 goals in just 189 matches for Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund, Red Bull Salzburg, Molde and Bryne.

Since making his international debut for Norway in September 2019, he has bagged a staggering 20 goals in 21 appearances.

Manchester City will next travel to Sevilla for their UEFA Champions League Group G opener on Tuesday (September 6).

That time again... #UCL 💫 #mancity https://t.co/NfDIVxEmH3

Pep Guardiola comments before Erling Haaland's UCL debut for Manchester City

Speaking at a pre-match press conference, Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola asserted that Erling Haaland will be unable to lead his team to glory on his own. He told reporters (via ESPN):

"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."

He added:

"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."