19 April 2023 , 21:59
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For a moment, he looked human, he looked fallible, he looked as though nerves might actually be even the smallest issue in his game.
We should have known better. Even the shock of putting a first half penalty into the punters did not stop the goalscoring machine that is Erling Haaland. And his wonderful finish early in the second half put any hopes of an unlikely Bayern fightback to bed.
Pep Guardiola and the Manchester City hierarchy might protest when it is suggested Haaland was bought with the express intention of changing the club’s Champions League fortunes but don’t believe them. And you would be a brave man or woman to bet against him firing them all the way to eventual triumph in Istanbul in June.
Not that this progression was plain sailing.
There was no change in City personnel from the first leg but that was, most certainly, a change in approach, the three-goal cushion meaning any need for a high press disappeared. And it was quite jarring to see a Guardiola team play with a minimal sense of adventure.
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It was with good reason, though, and when Ruben Dias did show a sense of surging ambition from the back, he was robbed and Leroy Sane was sent into a race with John Stones, which he won. But in keeping with his performance at the Etihad, the ex-City man dragged his shot wide.
It was a high-paced reminder of Bayern’s danger and City’s relative lack of backline speed became regularly exposed, not least by Kingsley Coman, who gave Nathan Ake a type of examination he has not been accustomed to.
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Haaland bounced back from missing a penalty to score (Matthias Schrader/AP/REX/Shutterstock)But everything Coman did came to little avail because of the ineffectiveness of his colleagues in front of goal. They really could do with signing Harry Kane.
Of course, City were always going to pose a counter-attacking threat and had Erling Haaland not launched his run early, the red card shown to Dayot Upamecano for hauling him down would have stood.
Instead, Clement Turpin rescinded it after it was confirmed the Norwegian had been offside.
That was as dangerous as the visitors looked in the opening half hour but they should have been home and hosed before half-time after the hapless Upamecano handled an Ilkay Gundogan shot but, after a lengthy delay, Haaland put his penalty into the crowd - his first miss in eight attempts from the spot for City and in his last 16 overall.
Despite the blip, City kept their composure and kept Bayern at bay in the early stages of the second half. And it was, effectively, all over just before the hour mark after a passage of play that summed up the entire tie.
Coman caused more mayhem, his effort hitting a post, but the loose ball was launched to De Bruyne, who played in Haaland. To complete his two-legged misery, Upacemano slipped and Haaland expertly lifted his 48th goal of the season over Yann Sommer.
No wonder they already want to give Haaland a new deal and a massive pay rise.
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And even though a well-taken Joshua Kimmich penalty earned Bayern a draw after Manuel Akanji had been harshly adjudged to have handled, City and Haaland march on and it will take one major effort from Real Madrid to stop them.