LISANDRO NEEDS TO BATTLE FOR EVERY BALL

IF YOU could piece together the perfect centre forward in a laboratory, Erling Haaland would be pretty close to the finished product. The City striker has it all — pace, physicality, strength, intelligence, improvisation, not to mention the acrobatics to produce whatever finish he wants. I had to mark a few strong strikers in my time, such as Gabriel Batistuta and Duncan Ferguson. Germany’s 6ft 4in Carsten Jancker is another who springs to mind. A lot was made of our match-up at Euro 2000. I had to jump early to ensure I beat him in the air and even if I lost the odd header, I never wanted to let him think he had it easy. I battled for every ball. It was written in the build-up to that game that Jancker’s height was his greatest weapon. But with Haaland, there’s so much more you need to worry about. Of his 11 league goals this season, seven have been scored with his left foot, two with his right and two with his head. So, for all the focus on his 6ft 4in height compared to Manchester United’s 5ft 9in Lisandro Martinez, the Norwegian winning headers cannot be the defender’s only concern. Martinez was ridiculed after his start to life here. He was told he wasn’t big enough to compete in England. But he looks like he’s enjoyed proving people wrong since. It isn’t ideal that he’s shorter than Haaland — you don’t want to give someone as lethal as City’s striker any sort of advantage — but Martinez is a contact defender. He’s physical and aggressive and a fighter. As the phrase goes: a good big ’un will always beat a good little ’un. But Martinez will be out to prove that theory wrong on Sunday.