Erling Haaland added two more goals to his ever-increasing season total as Manchester City enjoyed a simple 5-0 win against Copenhagen in the Champions League.
Haaland’s first-half brace was followed by a Davit Khocholava own goal, a Riyad Mahrez penalty and a tap-in from Julian Alvarez as Pep Guardiola’s side eased to victory at the Etihad Stadium.
That makes it 19 goals in 12 games in all competitions for the former Borussia Dortmund star following his hat-trick in Sunday’s derby win over Manchester United.
City have a 100 per cent record in Group G after three games and need just two more points to seal their place in the last 16.
To the surprise of nobody, Haaland opened the scoring inside seven minutes, slamming home Joao Cancelo’s low cross with his right foot.
But for the impressive shot-stopping of former Liverpool academy goalkeeper Kamil Grabara it could have been far worse for Copenhagen in the first half, though his parry of Sergio Gomez’s shot was tapped in by Haaland for City’s second just after the half-hour.
It was three before the break after Gomez’s shot from the edge of the box took two deflections, the second of which, off Khocholava, bounced into the net.
Haaland was subbed off at half-time, which may well have irked him considering he would have had a chance at another hat-trick when City were awarded a penalty early for Marko Stamenic’s foul on Aymeric Laporte.
It was the left foot of Mahrez, not Haaland, which sent Grabara the wrong way from the spot.
Guardiola gave youth a chance as City cruised in second gear, with Alvarez on hand to make it five after a neat run from Jack Grealish ended in Mahrez supplying the striker with a simple finish.
What does it mean? Guardiola having to save teams from Haaland
It was merely to preserve the health of a player who has suffered his fair share of injury issues in recent years, but Guardiola bringing Haaland off at half-time almost felt like taking mercy on his opponents. The 22-year-old now has 19 goals in 12 games in all competitions this season, and 16 in his last eight.
City confirmed during the second half that Haaland did not come off as a result of an injury, which will have come as a great disappointment to the rest of the Premier League.
Home comforts for City
City are now unbeaten across their last 22 home matches in the Champions League (W20 D2), a run that started with a 6-0 win against Shakhtar Donetsk in November 2018.
The last English side to go on a longer unbeaten run at home in the competition were Manchester United between 2005 and 2009 (23 games).
Away day blues
This game was about as one-sided as you are likely to see in the Champions League, but that was hardly a surprise.
Copenhagen have now won only one of their last 11 away games in the competition (D2 L8), beating Club Brugge in their final group stage game in 2016-17, and have netted just five goals across these 11 matches, while failing to score at all in seven of them.
What’s next?
City host Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday, while Copenhagen are at home to Nordsjaelland in the Danish Superliga on the same day.
