The Norwegian scored with just his 13th touch of the game with a typical poacher’s finish at the back post following terrific work by Elliot Anderson.
And the boss says it is crucial that he is always switched on, no matter how involved he is prior to scoring.
“I said yesterday that it’s always important that Erling is inside the game,” said Maresca.
“We know that any moment he can help us and he can score goals.
“Tonight also we scored more goals with different players, so we created so many chances that unfortunately we missed.
“I’m very happy he scored. Happy for him. It’s always a nice feeling to win and to be the captain.”
Haaland said there were many things the team could improve on – and Maresca couldn’t agree more.
“That we can do better? Absolutely, no doubt. That’s why I’m so happy, so confident because I can see that we can do much better,” he said.
“For me it’s a normal thing because it’s just four months ago that we started. It’s not automatic.
“You need time to work together. That’s why I’m so happy and so confident I can see we can improve in many things - especially because I think both [Leipzig] goals are quite silly goals that we can avoid.
“We are creating since day one, many chances in each games. But we need to avoid conceding silly goals.
“We need to understand. Analyse. Review things. I spend one season here three years ago but I’m new here. I need to know the players, and they need to know me.
“It’s four months we are together. That’s why I’m so happy and so confident that we can only improve with this short period.
“But I’m happy with the three points because its Champions League away, in Germany, it’s always difficult.”
