Erling Haaland overcomes family tragedy to help Man City beat Copenhagen
Erling Haaland battled through the sadness of losing his grandmother to feature in Manchester City's 3-1 Champions League triumph over FC Copenhagen.
The Norwegian played the full 90 minutes at Parken Stadium as Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden edged the holders towards the quarter-finals.
However, it's been a tough few days for the PFA Player of the Year after Tone Rasdal, mother of his father, ex-City, Leeds and Nottingham Forest star Alfie Haaland, sadly passed away on Saturday. Rasdal passed away peacefully at Sivdaheimen nursing home in Bryne and is due to be laid to rest this week. She had four children - including Haaland's father - with partner Astor Haaland.
A family obituary published in the Norwegian press read: "Our dear mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, grandmother and great-grandmother Tone Rasdal died peacefully today, aged 80."
It's not clear if City's talismanic forward was aware of the sad news on Saturday when he found the target twice in a 2-0 victory over Everton in the Premier League at the Etihad Stadium. The double means Haaland has now notched 51 top-flight goals in 50 starts for the treble winners.
Back in January, City granted Rodri permission to fly to Madrid to spend time with his family following the sad passing of his grandmother. He would later return to the bench for their 5-0 FA Cup demolition of Huddersfield but was an unused substitute.
Man City were convincing 3-1 winners over FC Copenhagen (AFP via Getty Images)City's victory in Denmark was soured by injuries to Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish. Josko Gvardiol has also picked up an ankle ligament problem and will miss two to three weeks of action.
Pep Guardiola was otherwise pleased with his side's performance, reflecting: “I know how difficult it is. When people think it is easy, that makes it easy but it is not. Ask Bayern Munich and Galatasaray and Manchester United how hard it is. They are a really tough opponent. We played really good.
“My job is to warn the players and tell them the attributes we will need and they proved it and felt it. We behaved with the correct personality and patience and everyone was at top, top level."
The games are now coming thick and fast for the record-breaking champions, who host Mauricio Pochettino's Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday. They then square off with Brentford, Bournemouth and Luton (FA Cup fifth round) before the Manchester derby and their second leg clash with Copenhagen.
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