Haaland scores twice as Manchester City ease past Sevilla

Madrid, Sep. 7 (IANS): Erling Haaland scored twice as Manchester City cruised past Sevilla 4-0 away from home in their opening Champions League encounter.

Sevilla went into the match with three defeats and a draw from their opening four La Liga matches, and with coach Julen Lopetegui still trying to work out the side’s defence, this was never going to be a good time to play the Premier League champions.

Pep Guardiola’s side began by totally dominating the game, with Sevilla struggling to contain the mobility of the Manchester City side, where Kevin de Bruyne, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Haaland swapped positions and moved the ball at will, Xinhua reports.

The surprise was that it took City 20 minutes to open the scoring, with a goal that again saw them out-pass their rivals until De Bruyne crossed for Haaland to score with a simple finish from close range.

The visitors were in complete control with De Bruyne hitting a free kick into the side netting and Haaland forcing Sevilla keeper Bono into a save low down to his left.

Sevilla brought Rafa Mir and Joan Jordan on for Ivan Rakitic and Thomas Delaney at half-time and Mir started to cause some problems in the City area, although Sevilla had Bono to thank for stopping them from going two goals behind after he denied De Bruyne, who was through on goal.

Phil Foden doubled Manchester City’s lead in the 58th minute after receiving the ball in the Sevilla area, turning one way and then the other, before sending a low shot into the corner of the goal.

Ilkay Gundogan had a goal ruled out for offside, but it hardly mattered as Haaland made it 3-0 in the 67th minute after more good work from Foden.

Even after taking Haaland and Foden off, City kept up the pressure and got a fourth goal when Ruben Dias scored a tap-in in the 91st minute, just after the visitors had had another effort cleared off the line.