Haaland's Double Leads Manchester City Past FC Porto
Erling Haaland’s double finally dragged Manchester City past FC Porto, 2-0 at the Estadio do Dragao, on a night that underlined both their ruthlessness and their flaws.
City left with the points. They did not leave with many answers.
Wasteful City, inspired Costa
For 45 minutes, it felt like one of those European away nights where the favourites do everything but score.
Haaland, usually merciless, kept letting Porto off the hook. First, Antoine Semenyo slipped Phil Foden into space and the England international clipped a perfect cross onto Haaland’s head. Diogo Costa stood tall, stuck out a glove, and turned it away.
Then came the kind of miss that makes a striker wince on the replay. Another Semenyo delivery from the left, another free header, this time sent over the bar. Haaland shook his head. Costa roared at his defence.
The Porto goalkeeper was operating on a different level. He parried an early Semenyo curler, then watched Foden slalom through a packed penalty area before blocking yet another effort. The defining moment of the half arrived on 31 minutes: Haaland drilled low from inside the box, Costa smothered, sprang up, and then denied Rayan Cherki on the rebound. A double save that electrified the Dragao.
City still carried a threat, but Porto were in the fight. There was a flashpoint too: Marc Guehi’s arm caught Gabri Veiga, drawing blood and fury from the home players, who wanted a red card. The referee kept his cards in his pocket, judging it accidental.
City went in goalless, dominant yet oddly fragile.
Haaland makes amends, City ease off
Two minutes after the restart, Haaland reset the story.
Enzo Fernandez whipped in a teasing cross from the right, Haaland bullied Jakub Kiwior out of the way and thumped a header in off the post. One chance, one brutal finish. The kind of centre-forward moment that erases a wasteful first half in an instant.
At 1-0, City should have strangled the game. Instead, they drifted.
Porto, who had barely managed a shot, began to push. Alan Varela finally found space on the edge of the box and curled a precise effort just wide of the far post. It was their first attempt of the night and a clear warning.
The home crowd sensed something. So did City’s back line. Gianluigi Donnarumma, under pressure, almost gifted Porto an equaliser when William Gomes closed him down and the ball squirmed dangerously loose before rolling behind for a goal kick. It summed up City’s jittery spell: casual on the ball, inviting trouble.
Porto never forced Donnarumma into a save, but City’s control had gone. Passes went astray, the tempo dropped, and the Portuguese champions grew bolder without ever truly breaking through.
Late sting from Haaland
Maresca turned to his bench and Rayan Ait-Nouri nearly settled it on 85 minutes, driving into the box but dragging his shot just wide. It felt like another chance that might come back to haunt them.
Then, deep into stoppage time, he got it right.
Ait-Nouri surged to the byline on the left, cut the ball back with precision, and Haaland arrived to sweep it home. A simple finish, a clinical end to a complicated night. Two goals, job done. On the scoreboard, at least.
Haaland called it a “difficult game” against “the champions of Portugal” and insisted City had “controlled the whole first half” while admitting he “could have easily had a few more goals.” He spoke like a striker who knows the standards at this club: win, score, move on, but learn.
Maresca, too, leaned on the positives. He pointed to the number of chances created, the lack of clear openings conceded, and the reality of coming to a stadium like the Dragao and not expecting silence from the home fans. He was “happy with the performance” and argued City “deserved to win the game.”
He also knows the context. This is a side that has already been hammered by Arsenal in the Community Shield, needed a late surge to edge Bournemouth, thrashed Crystal Palace, then laboured past Coventry. The pattern is emerging: patches of dominance, flashes of vulnerability.
Playing with fire before the derby
For 47 minutes in Porto, City looked like a side in control. Then they loosened their grip and let the hosts back into a contest that should have been buried long before stoppage time.
On another night, against sharper opposition, the slack passing and careless possession could have been punished. The fact Porto failed to register a shot on target flatters City more than it reflects complete defensive assurance.
And now comes Manchester United at Old Trafford.
No team will relish the chance to exploit those lapses more than their city rivals, desperate for a statement result in front of their own crowd. The atmosphere will be hostile again, the stakes higher, the margin for error slimmer.
City have become the first team to beat Porto at the Dragao this calendar year. They have a winning start in Europe. But if they keep flirting with danger like this, how long before someone makes them pay?
