City snatch victory from Borussia thanks to Haaland’s goal.
Erling Haaland brings Manchester City a 2-1 win over his former team Borussia Dortmund.
In the 4-0 win over Sevilla, John Stones, Nathan Ake, Ilkay Gündogan and Riyad Mahrez return to the City starting line-up, replacing Ruben Dias, Sergio Gomes, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden.
Borussia’s tactics for the first half prove to be quite workable. The visitors are playing defensively. They play compactly and isolate Erling Haaland and do not allow Kevin De Bruyne to display his dispatching skills.
In addition, Borussia occasionally counterattack, and it is the Dortmund side who strick the only shot on target before the break, unleashing Ederson.
With the start of the second half, the visitors become so bold that they open the scoring on 56 minute. Marco Reus, on the left edge of the penalty area, takes a shot from the rebound and Jude Bellingham cleverly sets up his header to make it 0-1.
Such a scoreline doesn’t not suit the Cityzens, who are taking Borussia in their grip. However, Mats Hummels and Niklas Süle fight like lions in their own penalty area.
However, City do not need to penetrate into the opponents’ penalty area to equalise. In the 80 minute, Stones stricks a long-range shot that takes the goalkeeper by a surprise trajectory to make it 1-1.
Four minutes later, Joao Cancelo cuts out a pass with the outside of his foot to the far post, where Haalland spikes the ball into the net in a high dive to make it 2-1.
Borussia prove to be a tough nut to crack, but the visitors lack energy for the entire match. In the closing stages, City finally put their tired opponents to the test.