MANCHESTER, England, and LISBON
Erling Haaland on Wednesday scored an outrageous backheel volley in the UEFA Champions League to issue a timely reminder of his own credentials as a potential Ballon d’Or winner.
A day after Vinicius Junior hit a hat-trick for Real Madrid, Haaland scored an early contender for goal of the season with his acrobatic effort in Manchester City’s 5-0 win against Sparta Prague.
Photo: AP
Vinicius Junior is the favorite to win soccer’s most prestigious individual prize, which is to be presented at a gala ceremony in Paris on Monday, but Haaland, who was runner-up to Lionel Messi for last year’s award, once again showcased his scoring prowess with two goals as City set a new Champions League record of 26 games unbeaten.
Haaland’s volley in the 58th minute at Etihad Stadium was a moment of individual brilliance.
From about 6m and with his back to goal, the Norway striker leaped in the air and flicked the back of his foot to meet Savinho’s cross from the right. Connecting powerfully with his heel, the ball shot down into the turf and bounced high into the top corner beyond Prague goalkeeper Peter Vindahl.
Photo: AP
“If I tried to do that I’d pull my groin. I don’t know how he did it, I just think it’s just his long legs. He’s a freak isn’t he?” Haaland’s City teammate Phil Foden said. “It shows he has this talent that no one else can do.”
City manager Pep Guardiola said the goal was not normal “for a human” and likened the forward to Sweden great Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
“It’s unbelievable this talent that this guy has,” Guardiola said.
Photo: AFP
Haaland scored his second in the 68th minute to take his season’s total to 13 goals in 12 games in all competitions. His record in the Champions League is now 44 goals in 42 games.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the all-time leading scorer in European club soccer’s elite competition with 141 goals. Messi is second on 129. Haaland is 17th and rising quickly.
However, he is expected to miss out on this year’s Ballon d’Or, with Vinicius Junior seen as the man to beat, ahead of Haaland’s City teammate Rodri.
However, Haaland is likely to contend for years to come if he continues his goal-scoring exploits, with Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe leading a new generation after Messi and Ronaldo dominated the award for more than a decade.
Neither of those soccer greats, who won 13 titles between them, were nominated this year, appearing to usher in a new era.
In Lisbon, Feyenoord’s players might not have realized the enormity of their achievement in winning away over Portuguese giants SL Benfica, the Dutch club’s coach Brian Priske said after their surprise 3-1 victory.
It was a second successive away win for Feyenoord in the new-look competition and saw them make a strong impression with their flowing style and sharp finishing.
“This is certainly a great victory. I don’t know if we realize how great it is until the heart rate drops a bit and we can enjoy it,” said Priske, who has taken over from Arne Slot as coach at the Rotterdam club.
He struggled initially, but has now seen them to four successive wins in all competitions.
“This [Benfica] is a very big club in Europe, with top-quality players and a great stadium. This is really a great achievement,” the Danish-born coach said.
Priske was pleased with almost all aspects of Feyenoord’s game, but especially complimentary about the players’ mindset.
“The mentality of these boys is incredible. I am very proud of them, how we kept fighting after they pulled one goal back and were mentally strong enough to pull the match over the line with the 3-1 win,” he said.
Priske said that Feyenoord had set out to play compact.
“First of all to work hard, suffer, take on some pain when they had the ball, sacrifice yourself for the team and defend really well. And then offensively we also needed to take moments to outnumber them in the midfield, see if we could outplay them and create some danger,” he said.
“Credit to the players — I think they showed all the elements that I talk about here,” he said. “It’s a massive result, but also a performance that shows everyone in our dressing room that we were capable of a lot of things.”
Feyenoord’s next Champions League game is on Nov. 6 at home against Austria’s Salzburg, who lost 2-0 against Dinamo Zagreb.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, it was:
‧ Atalanta BC 0, Celtic 0
‧ Brest 1, Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1
‧ Atletico Madrid 1, Lille OSC 3
‧ Barcelona 4, Bayern Munich 1
‧ Young Boys 0, Inter 1
‧ RB Leipzig 0, Liverpool 1
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