The barely-believable hoodoo Erling Haaland is looking to break as Manchester City face Chelsea in FA Cup final

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Erling Haaland is enjoying yet another prolific campaign but he will be aiming to put to bed an unwanted record when Manchester City meet Chelsea in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday.

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The striker has now hit the 30-goal mark in each of his four seasons since arriving at City, with his total tally at the club up to 161 in just 196 games.

Pep Guardiola’s side have enjoyed plenty of success in that time, including two Premier League titles, a UEFA Champions League triumph, an FA Cup and, most recently, a Carabao Cup.

Given this incredibly fruitful period, from both an individual and team perspective, it is scarcely believable that Haaland is yet to score in a semi-final or final for City, while he has also failed to provide an assist in those games.

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It is a remarkable record the Norwegian will be hoping to bring to an end on Saturday as City face Chelsea in the FA Cup final, live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.

So, what are the numbers behind this hoodoo, in fixtures that will be referred to as ‘latter-stage’ games, and how costly has it been for City?

How costly have Haaland's blanks been to City?

Haaland has drawn a blank in 15 latter-stage games, failing to find the back of the net in nine finals and six semi-final contests.

The most important of these fixtures came during City’s run to the Champions League final in the 2022/23 campaign, their successive FA Cup finals between 2023 and 2025, and their run to the Carabao Cup final this season.

The barren run has also included their successive Community Shield contests between 2022 and 2024, and their UEFA Super Cup clash against Sevilla in 2023.

Match	Goals and assists	Shots	Shots on target	xG	Big chances missed
2026 FA Cup semi-final v Southampton	0	0	0	0.03	0
2026 Carabao Cup final v Arsenal	0	2	0	0.41	1
2026 Carabao Cup semi-final v Newcastle	0	2	2	0.57	1
2026 Carabao Cup semi-final v Newcastle	0	0	0	0	0
2025 FA Cup final v Crystal Palace	0	3	1	0.24	1
2024 Community Shield v Manchester United	0	0	0	0	0
2024 FA Cup final v Manchester United	0	2	0	0.29	0
2023 Super Cup v Sevilla	0	1	0	0.06	0
2023 Community Shield v Arsenal	0	0	0	0	0
2023 Champions League final v Inter	0	1	1	0.33	1
2023 FA Cup final v Manchester United	0	3	2	0.69	1
2023 Champions League semi-final v Real Madrid	0	4	3	1.19	3
2023 Champions League semi-final v Real Madrid	0	3	2	0.26	0
2023 FA Cup semi-final v Sheffield United	0	1	0	0.19	0
2022 Community Shield v Liverpool	0	3	1	1.04	2

Stats from Opta

With some of the semi-final matches being part of two-legged affairs, Haaland’s goalscoring struggles have taken place across 13 ties in total.

Fortunately for the 25-year-old, his lack of goals has not had a detrimental impact on his side’s success, with City coming out on top nine times out of 13.

Notably, they were able to land their first Champions League title in 2023 to complete the treble after winning the FA Cup six days earlier, and overcame Arsenal in the final to win this season’s Carabao Cup.

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Meanwhile, two of the four defeats came in the Community Shield, which is not considered a major trophy.

However, two of his more damaging blanks have come in the last two FA Cup finals, with City losing 2-1 against Manchester United in 2024 and 1-0 against Crystal Palace last season.

With City in pursuit of a second domestic treble under Guardiola, and with Chelsea awaiting in the FA Cup final, they will be eager for him to improve his record at this most crucial stage of the competition.

But evidently, the striker does not enjoy a trip to Wembley, without a goal now in nine appearances at the stadium.

Ten big chances, 5.3xg but zero goals

The numbers underline Haaland’s underperformance in these fixtures, with the striker missing 10 big chances and amassing a cumulative expected goals (xG) of 5.3 across the 15 games, according to Opta.

In terms of xG, Haaland’s biggest under-performance came in the first of the 14 fixtures, having produced a figure of 1.04 in the Community Shield defeat against Liverpool following his summer move in 2022.

Erling Haaland skies an effort over the bar against Liverpool in 2022

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The high figure was largely down to the Norwegian squandering a golden opportunity in the closing minutes of the match, clipping the top of the bar with an effort from just six yards out.

The only other games that he amassed an xG greater than 0.5 were the FA Cup final against Manchester United in 2023 and the second leg of this season’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Newcastle United – in both of which City claimed victory.

When looking at big chances missed, Haaland’s most wasteful display came in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid in 2023, with the striker deemed to have squandered three of them.

Out of the 14 games, this clash also saw him have the most shots (four) and the most shots on target (three), though the 4-0 victory on the night and 5-1 aggregate win meant the missed efforts did not come back to bite him.

Erling Haaland's wasteful display against Real Madrid in 2023 did stop City securing a famous win

Image credit: Getty Images

Haaland has missed exactly one big chance per 90 minutes during his City career. What is surprising is the fact he has failed to convert any of the 10 he has been presented with in the latter-stage games, given he has had a big chance-conversion rate of 43.6% since arriving at Etihad Stadium.

It is a small sample size but for a striker who is usually so deadly, could the figures point to Haaland suffering under the pressure of the big occasions?

With goals in his past four Premier League appearances and with City favourites to claim an eighth FA Cup crown, he will be confident of ending his unwanted streak this weekend.

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