In the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal match against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, Erling Haaland scored his 45th goal of the season to hand Manchester City a dominant 3-0 lead.
The English champions, who made a huge step toward finally dominating Europe for the first time, also had goals from Rodri and Bernardo Silva.
For the first time since leaving Munich for Manchester in 2016, City manager Pep Guardiola faced up against his old team, and while the victory was sweet, he cautioned that there is still work to be done.
“I’ve been three years there and I know in Europe this team is special. To knockout these type of teams you have to make two good games not just one,” said Guardiola.
“I know exactly what we have to do there, They are capable to score one, two, three goals. We have to do our game with huge personality.”
What Did Thomas Tuchel Say About The Defeat?
City also partially settled a Champions League score with Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel, who beat Guardiola’s men to lift the trophy as Chelsea manager in the 2021 final.
Tuchel was appointed less than three weeks ago by the German champions with one eye on this tie and he believed his side deserved more.
“I try to not allow my players to focus on the result because it is not the deserved result, it does not tell the story of this match,” said Tuchel.
“I’ve seen so many good things that I refuse to just focus on the result. You may say ‘that’s not Bayern’ but I was very proud on the sideline, we were courageous and showed the right character.”
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City fought off interest from Bayern among other European giants to win the race to sign Haaland a year ago for nights like this and the Norwegian played his part in a clinical performance.
Haaland uncharacteristically fluffed his lines with the first big chance of the game when his weak shot was straight at Yann Sommer.
ERLING HAALAND MAKES HISTORY!
His 45 goals this season across competitions are the most by a Premier League player EVER 📈 pic.twitter.com/XqfzivcJdu
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) April 11, 2023
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