Erling Haaland needed less than four minutes to score his first ever goal against Liverpool. Aged just 19 at the time, he had started on the bench for RB Salzburg’s Champions League visit to Anfield in 2019, despite scoring a hat-trick on his competition debut against Genk. He was introduced by coach Jesse Marsch with his side in the middle of a comeback from three goals down and duly made it 3-3.

It was one of the easiest goals Haaland has ever scored, tapping into an empty net on the hour-mark after being teed up by future Liverpool player Takumi Minamino. The elation of drawing level against Liverpool did not last long though as Mohamed Salah made it 4-3 to the Reds nine minutes later. Still, his first goal on English soil served to bring more recognition to Haaland at the start of his astronomical rise to being the best centre-forward in the world.

And yet that simple goal was the feast before a famine – by Haaland’s ridiculously high standards – against Liverpool. In eight matches against the Reds, Haaland has only scored three times, the lowest amount of goals he has scored against a team he has faced at least eight times. 

Haaland has scored eight times against Manchester United, five times against Arsenal and four times against both Chelsea and Tottenham. Those four teams are among the 35 sides Haaland has scored four or more goals against throughout his career. In that context, Liverpool, against whom he has scored two goals in six games for City with only one Premier League strike, are Haaland’s bogey team. 

But Sunday’s game against the champions, which begins a pivotal week for the Norwegian goal-machine, is the perfect occasion to end his Liverpool hoodoo and give the Reds the same merciless treatment he has meted out to almost every other team.