Porto 0 Man City 2: Haaland goes third on City’s all-time scoring list to seal three points in Champions League opener

MAYBE head boy Erling Haaland should keep his hair short permanently now. The Manchester City forward suggested this week he will grow his locks long again after getting it all chopped off at the start of the season. Manchester City beat Porto in their Champions League opener Credit: PA Erling Haaland headed in the opener in the second half Credit: PA But he certainly hasn’t been shorn of his powers. With his new buzz cut he has scored three headers in four matches at the start of the season. Actually he could have scored a hat-trick with his bonce here and will probably be kicking himself that he didn’t. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! However he got the one that mattered, nodding a cross by new boy Enzo Fernandez in off the post to finally beat inspired home keeper Diogo Costa. And in stoppage time he slid in a second – this time with his feet – to settle any nerves. It puts him third on City’s all-time goalscoring list – and also helped his boyhood favourites to lay a few ghosts to rest. The Dragao does not hold happy memories for City fans – it was in this stadium that they lost their first ever Champions League final five years ago. To make it worse, they went into that one as hot favourites against Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea but a combination of Pep Guardiola selection and some below par performances proved their undoing. That came in a period when City regularly reached the latter stages of this competition – and it proved to be the springboard for them to win it two years later. Most read in Sport SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS Gabri Veiga came off badly after a whild elbow from Marc Guehi Credit: Reuters The midfielder was left bloodied Credit: Reuters However in the last couple of years under Pep, their European campaigns tailed off as they failed to make it past the last 16 in either. Their form on the road has been a particular concern as prior to this they had lost six of their last nine away games in Europe. This was no easy take either against the newly crowned Portuguese champs who have started the current campaign with six straight domestic wins. So the first task for City was to quieten the home crowd who were up for this one after a two year absence from Uefa biggest stage. Francesco Farioli’s side had the first opportunity as Gabri Veiga shot turned behind at his near by Gianluigi Donnarumma – although the flag had gone up so it may not have counted. Yet gradually City started to get a grip on the game with new midfielders Enzo Fernandez and Ayyoub Bouaddi showing their quality. In truth the visitors – and star striker Erling Haaland in particular – should have put the game to bed and claimed the match ball by half time. The first big chance came when Phil Foden linked up brilliantly with Antoine Semenyo down the left and chipped a perfect cross to the far post. Haaland wrapped up the win in the 90th minute Credit: Getty He became City’s third highest goalscorer of all time Credit: Getty Haaland got a good connection on his header and looked certain to score but Diogo Costa got across to push it over the bar superbly. A few minutes later Semenyo – who created Haaland’s winner against Coventry on Saturday – was at it again but this time the Norwegian flicked a header too high. Foden – whose horse Wreck it Ronnie won at Goodwood earlier in the day – had the chance to make it a double celebration as he raced onto Rayan Cherki’s pass but Costa got down to save. A low cross from the right found its way to Haaland whose volley was tipped away by Costa who then picked himself up to help smother the rebound from Cherki. The Portugal number one – who has regularly been linked with a move to the Prem – is considered to be Porto’s star man. And in this first half, it was easy to see why. He had kept his team in it almost single handedly kept his team in it. Yet no doubt Costa – like every goalkeeper in Europe – knows you can’t keep giving Haaland chances and get away with it. The first half ended in a storm as Porto were furious with Marc Guehi’s challenge on Gabri Veiga – that left the Porto man on the deck. Players and staff from both teams were involved in a tunnel bust-up as they returned to the dressing room. Yet City had regained their composure at the start of the second half and finally took the lead within a couple of minutes. Cherki cleverly kept an attack alive and found Fernandez who hung up a cross to the back post. This time Haaland got his header right – sending it back across Costa and in off the far post. He revealed his love of chopping wood and burning it recently – and here he was cutting the Portuguese champions down to size. Porto had their best spell of the game after falling behind with Donnarumma’s clearance hitting William Gomes but the deflection rolled agonisingly wide. But for all their spirit there was no way back and Haaland sealed it when he got on the end of sub Rayan Ait Nouri’s cross and slid a low effort past Costa. That’s four wins from four for new boss Enzo Maresca ahead of this weekend’s Manchester derby. It was another landmark for the Norwegian – he goes third on City’s all-time list of goalscorers going past Tommy Johnson’s tally of 166. And to think he’s only been at the club for just over four years. The Etihad faithful know he is head and shoulders above the rest no matter how long his hair is. Comment now