Erling Haaland scored twice as Manchester City opened their Champions League campaign with a 4-0 victory away at out-of-form Sevilla on Tuesday.
Haaland turned home Kevin De Bruyne‘s cross mid-way through the first half and, after Phil Foden doubled City’s lead early in the second period, the Norway striker scored his 12th goal in seven matches to deal Sevilla a fourth defeat from their last five outings.
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“I think his [Haaland] numbers in all his career, even in previous teams, is quite similar,” City boss Pep Guardiola said.
“He has an incredible sense of goal. We have incredible numbers in terms of goals and we need to continue like that. Another battle against Tottenham and hopefully we can continue.”
Haaland caused the majority of the issues for Sevilla in the first half. He was in the right place at the right time to open the scoring 20 minutes in, catching De Bruyne’s cross on the volley.
City looked certain to score three minutes after the interval as a counter-attack led by Haaland and De Bruyne ended with the latter racing through on goal with only Bono to beat, but the Morocco goalkeeper got down superbly to deny the Belgian.
Guardiola’s side deservedly doubled their lead 58 minutes in when Foden twisted and turned on the edge of the area before firing an expertly-placed finish into the far corner.
And in a dominant performance, City had their third nine minutes later, Haaland scoring his 12th goal in a City shirt after tapping in from Foden’s parried shot. The in-form striker was substituted 20 minutes from time with Julian Alvarez taking his place.
City controlled possession to comfortably see out the game and even added a fourth moments before the final whistle when Ruben Dias tapped home Joao Cancelo‘s cross, while Sevilla struggled to threaten the Premier League champions in any capacity.
