The Norwegian grabbed his seventh hat-trick for the Club as City signed off for the international break with a 5-1 win over Fulham.
Haaland’s first of the afternoon, a clinical finish under the onrushing Bernd Leno, saw him become the quickest player in Premier League history to 40 goals, achieving the feat in just 39 matches.
But it was the forward’s linkup play which caught Lillo’s eye, with Haaland also adding an assist to his tally for Julian Alvarez’s opener.
“This guy was born scoring goals and he will go through his whole life scoring goals,” our assistant coach reflected after the win.
“It would be no surprise if he manages to get the same figures as last year but it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t.
“Today he was great at providing for other players, he gave one assist and has this importance to other players, it’s not about just scoring goals.
“I’m more impressed by other figures as well, not just where he ends up in the scoring charts.
“I always looked at his intelligence as well as his scoring stats.”
Haaland’s second of the afternoon came from the spot, just six days after the Norwegian had missed a penalty in our 2-1 victory over Sheffield United.
However, the forward put that behind him when he confidently stroked home from 12 yards against Fulham at the Etihad Stadium.
For Lillo, there was never any doubts that our number nine wouldn’t make amends when the penalty was given.
He said: “First of all Erling Haaland is a strong character, there were no doubts in our minds that he was going to take that penalty.
“He has scored many penalties and if we’d got another penalty in the previous game, he would have taken it because he’s won that right to take penalties.
“The one he took last weekend wasn’t bad, it hit the post and those can easily hit the post and go in.
“Today in the first half, none of the team played well. We didn’t find that freshness and our opponents made it difficult for us.
“It would’ve been difficult for any number 9 in that game particularly with the characteristics he has.
“I said at half-time, ‘this isn’t an easy game for us, but you can still help us by scoring’.
“He didn’t just score one, he scored three.”
