Manchester City managed to qualify for the semi-finals of the Champions League for the third consecutive time, when they drew with Bayern Munich, this Wednesday, in Germany. Haaland scored the first goal of the game for the Citizens, and Kimmich equalized for the German team. However, due to the thrashing in the first leg, where the English team won 3-0, the draw was not enough for Bayern to qualify.
Manchester City manage first-game lead
Due to the advantage obtained in the first leg, Manchester City managed to work well on the result in the second leg, keeping the scoreboard blank until the break. Bayern pressed on, but Upamecano escaped a red card thanks to an offside by Haaland and a missed penalty by the Norwegian striker. In the second half, Haaland scored the lead goal for Citizens in the 11th minute, but Kimmich equalized with a penalty in the 37th minute.
Efficiency and another goal from Haaland
Haaland scored his 48th goal for Manchester City, but could have added to the tally had he not missed the penalty in the first half. The attacker kicked the ball over the crossbar, wasting the chance to extend the scoreboard. It was only the third missed penalty in his career, the first after 18 consecutive penalties (almost two years).
With the goal scored in today’s game, Haaland joins the list of players who managed to score at least 12 goals in a single edition of the Champions League. Big names like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski make this list.
Furthermore, the young Norwegian surpassed Kylian Mbappé as the youngest player to score 35 goals in the Champions League. Mbappé was 23 when he reached that milestone.
Haaland already has 13 goals in the round of 16 of the competition, equaling the mark of Suárez and Neymar, who won the title with Barcelona.
With these achievements, Haaland has been establishing himself more and more as one of the best players in the world and one of the great talents of the new generation. If he continues at this pace, he will certainly continue to break records and impress fans around the world.
Meeting with Real Madrid in the semi-final
In the next phase, Manchester City will face defending champions Real Madrid, who passed through Chelsea. It will be a repeat of last year’s semi-final, in which the Spanish team got the better of the second leg in overtime. The matches will be played between the 9th and 17th of May. Thus, football fans can now prepare for another exciting confrontation between two great teams.