Norwegian Erling Haaland led City to victory against United 6-3 in the English Football League Manchester derby with three goals and two assists, in which Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo did not leave the bench.
The Portuguese attacker was ‘saved’ in what appeared to be the biggest defeat ever in the games between the two teams as the goalscorer made it 6-1, but he feels mostly negative in his career, today’s game.
Indeed, this is already the fifth consecutive game in which he is not a starter, which has not happened since 2003, when he was still a Sporting player and a rising star in football.
Now the spotlight is on Haaland, who doesn’t stop breaking records, as is the case with the third consecutive ‘hat trick’, which was unprecedented.
The Norwegian prodigy has scored 17 goals in 11 games this season and has maintained an impressive average of more than one goal per game, last year’s with Borussia Dortmund, with whom he was the top scorer in the Bundesliga.
Haaland scores 103 goals in his 100th club game and ‘promises’ not to stop there.
It wasn’t just Haaland having a good time at the Etihad Stadium – Phil Foden also scored a hat-trick, with City’s attacking front, including Portugal’s Bernardo Silva, always very unsettled.
Less good this time was João Cancelo’s side, who committed the offense that gave the ‘red devils’ the third goal. On the United side, two Portuguese players played: Bruno Fernandes, who failed to reverse the trend of the game, was penalized with a yellow card in the 80th minute, and Diogo Dalot, who was shown a yellow card in the second minute for a foul on Grealish.
The match, of the ninth round of the Premier League, will keep champions City in the footsteps of leader Arsenal: 21 points for the Londoners, 20 for the Manchester team.
United, on the other hand, interrupts a run of four wins and remains in sixth place, nine points behind the captain.
The most goalscored Manchester derby ever started to heat up after just eight minutes, with Foden’s first goal ending an offensive move that went through De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva.
The ‘festival’ Haaland started in the 34th minute, with a header that was well equaled by a corner from De Bruyne. Three minutes later, ‘bisou’, after an action that went through Grealish and De Bruyne again.
In the 44th minute, Haaland made a ‘death’ pass to Foden, who also scored the second goal and put the score in the already ‘tough’ 4-0 at halftime.
Truly ‘choked’ United counted no more than two innocent shots, from Bruno Fernandes and Eriksen.
A superb shot from Brazil’s Antony, 20 yards from the goal line, softened Ettihad’s bills in the 54th minute.
City didn’t care, they immediately went looking for more, and got it, again via Haaland (64 minutes, on a pass from Goméz) and Foden (72, on a pass from the Norwegian).
With the stands in delirium – “we want seventh” – it eventually became United to soften what was at the time the most unequal result between rivals.
Frenchman Anthony Martial scored with a header after 84 minutes, and Brazilian Antony scored again at 90+1, converting a penalty after Cancelo’s foul on Martial.
Source: DN
