Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has praised Erling Haaland as the epitome of an all-round goal-scorer and believes the 20-year-old striker is setting standards few have ever reached at his age.

Haaland will be the biggest threat to City when Borussia Dortmund arrive at the Etihad Stadium for the first leg of their Champions League quarter final on Tuesday, having scored a competition-high 10 goals this season.

Haaland has been heavily linked with a move to City, who need to replace departing striker Sergio Aguero at the end of the season, and Guardiola is clearly a fan of the Norway international.

“At that age, to score this amount of goals is not easy to find in the past, honestly,” Guardiola said on Monday.

“The numbers, they speak for themselves. When that happens, it’s because he can score right, left, on the counterattack, in the box, when you dominate, when you make counterattacks, in the headers.

“He is a fantastic striker. Everybody knows it. A blind guy realises he is a good striker. It’s not necessary to be a manager to realise (that) about him.”

Guardiola has refused to discuss a potential move for Haaland in the off-season out of respect for the player and Dortmund.

Hazard update

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has ruled out playing Eden Hazard in Tuesday’s home first-leg match against Liverpool, saying he will not risk another injury setback for his club’s record signing.

Belgian Hazard, ravaged by injuries since joining Real from Chelsea in 2019, returned to training on Friday ahead of schedule from his latest muscle problem but played no part in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Eibar.

“Hazard needs to stay calm and be patient, the most important thing is that he is completely recovered and I don’t think we’ll hurry his return,” Zidane told a news conference on Monday.

“If the player is in good shape then I’ll want to play him but right now we’re going to take things slowly and see what happens.”

Hazard sustained two serious ankle injuries in his first season with Real, making only 20 starts in all competitions.

He has had equally bad luck with injuries this campaign, facing five separate setbacks and making only 11 starts in all competitions, scoring three goals.