Guardiola on Haaland - 'No one can compete with him at his age'
Manchester City hope to continue their winning streak in the Champions League group stages as they come up against FC Copenhagen at the Etihad Stadium tonight. Pep Guardiola’s side have already recorded comfortable victories over Sevilla (4-0) and Borussia Dortmund (2-1) with the Danish side now in their sights. City sit top of Group G and should have no trouble from third placed Copenhagen.
Copenhagen’s only point of the campaign came in a goalless draw with Sevilla back in September and the Danish club are also struggling domestically with three defeats and two wins from their last five games leaving them sixth in the Danish Superliga.
Meanwhile, City come into the fixture in brilliant form following a 6-3 win over rivals Manchester United with Erling Haaland and Phil Foden both scoring hat-tricks. Haaland now has 17 goals in 11 matches since joining the Premier League champions and continues to be City’s biggest threat in front of goal. “At his age no-one can compete with him. The numbers speak for themselves. We see things not in the stats that make us feel happy to have him here," said Guardiola when asked about the impact Haaland has made on his team.
Follow the action from the Champions League group stages as Manchester City host FC Copenhagen:
Man City 1-0 Copenhagen
13 mins: Off the woodwork!
Haaland slides the ball to Jack Grealish who knocks it into the left side of the penalty area to match Bernardo Silva’s run. He gets to the ball and sends it towards goal but is denied by the near post!
So close to a second goal.
Man City 1-0 Copenhagen
10 mins: Riyad Mahrez takes the ball off Mohamed Daramy and drives inside before getting brought down by Viktor Claesson. City take the free kick quickly and work the ball over to the left where it’s crossed straight into the hands of Kamil Grabara.
GOAL! Man City 1-0 Copenhagen (Haaland, 7’)⚽️
7 mins: That man again! In what could possibly be his first touch of the game Erling Haaland gives Manchester City an early lead. Only seven minutes have been played but that goal has been coming.
Joao Cancelo bombs down the right side before sliding a square pass into the box. Haaland is wide open and he curls his effort into the near bottom corner.
Man City 0-0 Copenhagen
6 mins: Alvarez looks to pick out Erling Haaland but a block from David Khocholava knocks the ball down to Joao Cancelo. He drills an effort towards goal but it’s heading wide.
Haaland sticks out a leg to try and guide it back on target but there’s too much pace on the shot and the big forward misses it.
Man City 0-0 Copenhagen
3 mins: Joao Cancelo and Julian Alvarez combine on the right side to get into space wide of the penalty area. Alvarez sends in a cross and wins a corner when the ball is deflected out of play.
The corner is sent into the box but the visitors manage to get it clear.
Kick off: Man City 0-0 Copenhagen
FC Copenhagen get the game started and boot the ball over to the right side before it’s knocked softly into the box for Ederson to claim.
Man City then attempt to play out from the back and Copenhagen immediately drop back.
Man City vs Copenhagen
Here come the teams.
Man City have two wins from their opening two games and on paper look set to extend that this evening. Erling Haaland starts again after his hat-trick heroics in the Manchester derby but Phil Foden is given a rest for tonight’s match.
Man City vs Copenhagen
Kick off is just 10 minutes away at the Etihad Stadium so here’s a reminder of how the two teams line-up tonight:
Man City XI: Ederson, Cancelo, Dias, Laporte, Gomez, Gundogan, Bernardo, Mahrez, Haaland, Alvarez, Grealish
Copenhagen XI: Grabara, Diks, Vavro, SKocholava, Kristiansen, Stamenic, Lerager, Johannesson, Claesson, Daramy, Karamoko
FT RB Leipzig 1-1 Celtic
Celtic are now down to fourth in Group F with one point from three games. Their Champions League campaign will come down to the return leg against RB Leipzig next week.
If the lose that there’s not chance of qualifying but if they win they’ll still have hope of reaching the knockouts.
Reaction and report to come from Celtic’s defeat but the focus now moves over to Manchester where Pep Guardiola’s men are preparing to host FC Copenhagen.
Full-time: RB Leipzig 3-1 Celtic
90+5 mins: A valiant first half performance from Celtic made it seem as though they could take something out of this clash in Germany and those feelings were backed up when Jota equalised immediately after the restart.
However, RB Leipzig stepped up the tempo and quality from that point on and are deserved winners. They’ve put three past the Hoops and have had two more goals disallowed.
Celtic’s problem is their defence, they’re too open too often and that doesn’t win you games in the Champions League. Ange Postecoglou’s men are still searching for their first win of this campaign.