Erling Haaland brace leads Man City to Champions League victory over Porto

Erling Haaland once again proved decisive, scoring twice to continue his impressive start to the season. The Norwegian opened the scoring with a header directed into the far corner before adding another later on by calmly rolling the ball home.

The brace took Haaland's Champions League total for City to 36 goals in just 40 appearances. He also found the net against Coventry last Saturday, scoring the only goal of that match.

City controlled proceedings for long periods, although Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa prevented the margin from becoming greater. He produced two superb reflex stops to keep out Haaland and also thwarted attempts from Antoine Semenyo and Phil Foden.

Ayyoub Bouaddi impressed on his first start for City, who are looking to end their wait for another Champions League triumph after lifting the trophy during their Treble-winning 2023 campaign.

Porto, the 2004 European champions, struggled to pose a threat despite winning all five of their domestic fixtures this season.

They failed to manage a shot in the opening half, with Alan Varela and William Gomes later missing the target. Gianluigi Donnarumma was never forced into a save.

"We could have scored more goals, especially in the first half. But overall we deserved to win the game. We created enough chances to win the game, we didn't concede a lot," City boss Enzo Maresca told Amazon.

"It's normal to come here and concede some noises so overall I'm happy with the performance.

"If you think you're going to come here in this stadium and just play and not concede anything, it's not reality. It's normal that they are going to create something. They didn't create a lot - some actions, some mistakes from us. But I think it's normal." 

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