Enzo Fernández's Debut: Haaland Shines in City’s Champions League Win
Enzo Fernández needed only one Champions League night in Manchester City colours to understand what so many defenders already know: when Erling Haaland is in this mood, you just feed the beast.
The Argentina midfielder, making his European debut for City after that joint-British record move from Chelsea, whipped in the cross for Haaland’s opener in a 2-0 win at FC Porto on Tuesday. The finish was simple. The significance was not.
Haaland’s two second-half goals dragged a stuttering City performance into something far more routine, lifting him to 59 goals in 59 Champions League games. He also moved level with Sergio Agüero as City’s all-time leading scorer in the competition on 36 and climbed above Thomas Müller into seventh on the tournament’s all-time list.
“Erling Haaland is an animal, a beast,” he told Amazon Prime. “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.
“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].”
City’s new axis clicks
For long spells in Portugal, it looked like Haaland might be denied the storybook start to City’s European campaign. Diogo Costa kept flinging himself in the way, Porto’s goalkeeper repeatedly shutting the door in the first half as Haaland racked up chances but not goals.
City controlled the ball. The net refused to cooperate.
The pressure finally told after the break. Fernández found space wide, shaped his cross and picked out the one man Porto could not afford to lose. Haaland attacked it, converted from close range and City’s nerves loosened in an instant.
By then, the World Cup winner had already shown why City paid so heavily to prise him from Chelsea. Sharp on the turn, crisp in his passing, he kept looking up, scanning for the No. 9 he now knows is his primary target.
And when the game drifted towards stoppage time, Haaland struck again.
This time the service came from Rayan Aït-Nouri, whose low ball into the box only needed a touch. Haaland supplied it with his right foot, guiding it past Costa to kill off Porto and complete his brace in added time. Another team added to his growing list: Porto became the 22nd different club he has scored against in the Champions League.
Haaland’s numbers keep climbing
The goals keep stacking up. Last season, even as City fell to Real Madrid in the round of 16, Haaland still scored eight times in 10 Champions League matches. This season he has changed his haircut, not his habits. Three goals in three Premier League games, now two more in Europe. Same ruthless edge.
City, too, have started with a familiar relentlessness. Three wins from three in the league, now a hard-earned victory in a hostile European away tie. Enzo Maresca, in his first Champions League campaign as City coach, has little to complain about.
Haaland hopes he feels the same.
“I hope he is pleased,” he told Amazon Prime when asked about Maresca. “We won away in a difficult game. Look at this atmosphere, it was unreal at times so I hope he's happy.”
Then came the line that sums up the expectations inside the club.
“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.”
On a night when the new midfielder called him a beast and the new coach pushed him to raise the bar again, Haaland simply did what he always seems to do: score, climb another rung on a historic list, and make the task of stopping Manchester City in Europe feel as daunting as ever.
