Haaland goalless against old club: City group winner after 0-0 in Dortmund
This left the Jærbow scoreless for the fourth time in a City jersey since the transfer from Dortmund in the summer. He failed to put old teammates to the big tests in a game that ended 0-0.
The position also lasted the match. Dortmund were the best in the first 45 minutes, while City rose and came closest to victory in the second half. The result made the assessment group winner, and Dortmund progress to the round of 16 as runners-up.
Haaland was well looked after by a Dortmund defense led by stopper Mats Hummels. It was not an injury that prompted City manager Pep Guardiola to make a substitution.
– Erling had a bit of a fever before the match, and João (Cancelo) too. Both were tired, so we replaced them at half-time, Guardiola told BT Sport.
– We controlled the second half after we had some counterattacks against us in the first. We got what we wanted, which was the group win.
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22 scores in 16 City matches is Haaland’s result so far. The distribution of them is candy (goals/matches): 17/11 in the Premier League and 5/4 in the Champions League.
Earlier in the autumn, he became the match winner when the teams met in Manchester. There, City turned around for a 2-1 victory, and the winning goal came after Norwegian acrobatics sent in the match.
Haaland scored 86 goals in 89 games for Dortmund. He spent 2.5 years at the club before the journey took him to England. The Germans got probably 600 million kroner in transfer fee.
Manchester City were in the knockout stages before kick-off on Tuesday, and a draw in Germany would secure England’s top spot. It probably influenced manager Pep Guardiola’s choice to bench key players such as Kevin De Bruyne and first keeper Ederson.
Penalty boom
He gave Stefan Ortega his debut in the City cage. The German was kept active by a good Dortmund attack. Karim Adeyemi was dangerous on the right wing and a scourge for reviews, while 17-year-old Youssoufa Moukoko was a huge bomb to make it 1-0 before the break.
Riyad Mahrez saw a weak penalty after a short time. The City star was in front felt by Emre Can.
– Penalties are a problem. We have lost far too many of them, often in the Champions League. We have to improve on that, said Guardiola.
The rest of the game was all about defending for Dortmund. They succeeded in that and have nothing but honor to play for in their group match against FC Copenhagen in Denmark next week. The Danes finish last in the pool after the 0-3 defeat in Seville.
City take on Sevilla in the final of the group stage. The Spaniards finish third and advance to the Europa League’s preliminary knockout round.
(© NTB)