Haaland's Dominance Shines in Champions League
Enzo Fernández walked into the Champions League with Manchester City and immediately found the club’s most familiar storyline: Erling Haaland, scoring when it matters.
On a noisy night in Porto, Haaland struck twice in the second half to seal a 2-0 win over FC Porto, push City’s perfect start to the season into Europe, and quietly move himself deeper into Champions League history.
“An animal, a beast”
Fernández, making his first Champions League appearance for City after his joint-British record move from Chelsea, didn’t bother with understatement.
“Erling Haaland is an animal, a beast,” he told Amazon Prime. “Every time I'm on the pitch, I'm going to look for him and hopefully I can give him many more assists and he can score goals like that.
“It's not just about the player he is -- he's an amazing human being as well and he has really welcomed me in [to the club].”
He had already backed those words up on the pitch. For Haaland’s opener, the World Cup winner whipped in a cross that the Norwegian met from close range, finally breaking Diogo Costa’s resistance after a first half in which the Porto goalkeeper repeatedly frustrated City’s No. 9.
The goal nudged Haaland to 59 Champions League goals in 59 matches. A ridiculous symmetry for a striker who makes the extraordinary feel routine.
Records fall, again
The numbers kept stacking up.
On the night, Haaland drew level with Sergio Agüero as Manchester City’s leading scorer in the Champions League, both now on 36 goals for the club in Europe’s top competition. He also moved past Thomas Müller into seventh place on the all-time Champions League scorers list.
Porto became the 22nd different team he has scored against in the tournament. Another name on a growing list of victims.
And he did it all while sporting a new haircut, the fresh look matching a sharp start to the domestic campaign: three goals in three Premier League games so far, after hitting eight in 10 in last season’s Champions League before City fell to Real Madrid in the round of 16.
Late killer blow
City had to work for this one. Porto’s intensity, the crackling atmosphere, and Costa’s first-half heroics kept Enzo Maresca’s side at arm’s length for long spells.
The pressure finally told after the break with Haaland’s first. The second was pure striker’s instinct.
Deep into stoppage time, Rayan Aït-Nouri fizzed a ball into the box. Haaland needed just one touch with his right foot, a simple redirection that turned a decent pass into a ruthless finish. Game over. Points secured. Another European night, another brace.
Maresca’s demands, Haaland’s response
City have opened their Premier League campaign with three wins from three, and now a controlled victory away in Europe gives Maresca an ideal platform in his first season in charge.
“I hope he is pleased,” Haaland told Amazon Prime when asked about his new coach. “We won away in a difficult game. Look at this atmosphere, it was unreal at times so I hope he's happy.”
He knows, though, that satisfaction at City is always temporary.
“We have to learn. Enzo demands a lot from us and we have to demand a lot from each other. We have to win games because at Man City, you have to win trophies. That's what we have to do at this club.”
The message is clear. The goals are flowing, the records are tumbling, and the standards are set. The question now is not whether Haaland will keep scoring, but how far this partnership with Fernández – and this new-look City under Maresca – can carry them through Europe this season.
