An Erling Haaland brace helped Manchester City defeat Porto 2-0 in its first game of the Champions League 2026-27 season on Tuesday.
Tempers flared and arguments were exchanged in what was a nervy encounter, with Haaland himself involved in a late match spat with defender Pablo Rosa. But in the end, it was City, the better team on the field, that prevailed.
In the first-half, there was nothing to separate the two sides as Porto goalkeeper Diego Costa pulled out all stops to deny Haaland thrice- both headers as the contest headed into the half-time break with no goals to show for.
In the second half, Haaland broke the deadlock with a neat header that trickled into the back of the net through an Enzo Fernandez cross from the left to hand City a 1-0 lead.
Porto, in response, stepped up the press and created a few good scoring opportunities.
City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnaruma was saved by the off-side flag after he floored Pepe while trying to reach the ball in the air first, for which he got a yellow card.
Porto came close to finding the equaliser on a couple of occasions after that but its forwards failed to add the finishing touches on some good link-up play from the flanks.
Andre Silva and William Gomes were at the forefront of most of these chances, but City’s defensive line, along with Donnaruma, did just enough to keep the ball away from the back of the net.
Just when it seemed like the game was evenly poised, Haaland put the game to rest with a stoppage time goal, his 59th UCL goal in as many games and 167th for City overall, making him the third highest goal-scorer for the club.
PLAYER RATINGS
Porto: Diego Costa (8.4); Alan Varela (6.6), Nehuén Pérez (6.3), Jakub Kiwior (6.4), Alberto Costa (6.5); Pablo Rosario (5.9), Martim Fernandes (6.1), Gabri Veiga (6.2); William Gomes (6.4), André Silva (5.8), Pepê (6.0). Subs: In-beom Hwang (6.0), Borja Sainz (5.8), Francisco Moura (6.0), Seko Fofana (4.9).
Manchester City: Gianluigi Donnarumma (6.7); Matheus Nunes (7.2), Marc Guéhi (7.8), Rúben Dias (7.3), Joško Gvardiol (7.2); Ayyoub Bouaddi (7.4), Enzo Fernández (8.4); Antoine Semenyo (7.0), Rayan Cherki (7.2), Phil Foden (7.1); Erling Haaland (9.0). Subs: Elliot Anderson (7.2), Abdukodir Khusanov (6.4), Iliman Ndiaye (6.2), Mateo Kovacic (6.3), Rayan Ait-Nouri (6.0)
Published on Sep 09, 2026