Haaland Shines in Champions League Debut for Manchester City
Enzo Fernández had barely finished his first Champions League night in Manchester City colours when he reached for the strongest words he could find.
“Erling Haaland is an animal, a beast,” he told Amazon Prime. After 90 minutes in Porto, nobody in blue was arguing.
Haaland struck twice in the second half of City’s 2-0 win at FC Porto on Tuesday, dragging a cagey game under his control and nudging another chunk of Champions League history into his column. The Norway striker now has 59 goals in 59 matches in the competition – a video-game return in a tournament that rarely forgives.
He also climbed another rung on City’s own European ladder. Those two goals pulled him level with Sergio Agüero as the club’s leading scorer in the Champions League, both now on 36, and pushed him past Thomas Müller into seventh on the all-time list.
The first goal carried an extra layer of symbolism. On his Champions League debut for City, Fernández – the World Cup winner and joint-British record signing from Chelsea – bent in a cross from the right. Haaland read it instantly, attacked the space and finished from close range. New signing to new haircut, City’s latest iteration clicked in a single movement.
“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,” Fernández said. The admiration went beyond the numbers. “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].”
By then, Porto knew what was coming but still couldn’t stop it. Haaland had already seen enough of Diogo Costa in the first half, the Porto goalkeeper repeatedly standing tall, blocking, smothering, delaying the inevitable. City controlled the ball but not the scoreboard. The home crowd sensed a scalp. The noise grew.
The pressure finally told late on. Deep into second-half stoppage time, with Porto stretched, Rayan Aït-Nouri fizzed in a low ball. Haaland needed only one touch with his right foot, a subtle redirection that turned a simple pass into a ruthless finish. Two chances taken, three points sealed, another defence added to his growing catalogue.
Porto became the 22nd different side he has scored against in this competition. They are unlikely to be the last.
Haaland had already hit eight goals in 10 matches in last season’s Champions League before City fell to Real Madrid in the round of 16. This campaign, he has arrived with a slightly different look – the new haircut, the same cold edge. He has three goals in three Premier League games and now a brace in Europe to go with City’s perfect domestic start under Enzo Maresca.
Three league wins from three. A clean sheet and a statement away win in Europe. The new coach has numbers he can lean on and a centre-forward who keeps rewriting them.
“I hope he is pleased,” Haaland said of Maresca. “We won away in a difficult game. Look at this atmosphere, it was unreal at times so I hope he's happy.”
The striker’s gaze, though, is already fixed beyond one noisy night in Portugal.
“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 was as sharp as his finishing. City’s standards are set, their No. 9 is already in stride, and the Champions League door has creaked open again. Now the question is simple: with Haaland in this mood, who can actually keep it shut?
