Erling Haaland has finally come back to scoring ways as he notched up a doubler for Manchester City in their Champions League match against BSC Young Boys on Wednesday to help his side clinch a convincing 3-1 victory at the Wankdorf Stadium.
Haaland’s spectacular performance in the match, which saw him score two crucial goals in the second half helped the City Boys secure the win and maintain the team’s 100% record in the group stage almost securing their spot in the Champions League knockout stage. The goals also helped Haaland end his Champions League goal drought, having gone goalless in City’s last six league matches.
The match was pretty much dominated by Manchester City, throwing a string of first-half near misses. However, it was Akanji who finally broke the deadlock and scored the opening goal for City just three minutes into the second half when Ruben Dias’s header was pushed off the crossbar by keeper Anthony Racioppi and the Swiss defender swung his right leg high to boot it in.
About four minutes later, Young Boys finally broke through as Meschack Elia chipped in a beautiful scoop high over City keeper Ederson into the net, getting the much-needed equalizer at 52 minutes. Haaland brought in the equalizer for City with a penalty in the 67th minute after Mohamed Camara’s tackle on Rodri in the box, which was later followed by a fabulous second goal when he moved the ball from his left foot to his right before firing it into the top corner in the 86th minute. The final one by Haaland was enough for Manchester City to register their third straight Champions League Group G victory.
As for personal records, Haaland also ended up breaking Kylian Mbappe’s feat as the youngest player to score 37 Champions League goals. The Norwegian striker, who is 23 years and 96 days old, achieved this milestone in just 33 games.
Owing to the win, the defending champions are placed at the top spot in the Group G standings with 9 points winning all their three games, followed by RP Leipzig in the second spot with 6 points. Manchester City needs one more win to qualify mathematically and then two more to finish first.
As for the Youngs, they have some work to do as they have now faced two defeats in three games. The Swiss site still has a shot at redemption as they get to face City again on November 7, but this time at the City Home Ground at the Etihad Stadium. City, on the other hand, will be looking to replicate their “Young” victory and clinch their spot in the knockout stage.
