By Sedara Oluwadara
It was always going to take something extraordinary and only intervention from above could upstage Erling Haaland on his first night in a Manchester City shirt.
The world felt like it fell in at Lambeau Field, storm Haaland meeting his match as supporters were twice evacuated, the friendly with Bayern Munich twice postponed and eventually cut by 10 minutes.
By the time both teams had left the field, in the 13th minute, Haaland had already scored. Of course he had. And he looked pretty pleased about it, too, with teammates rushing to their new Nordic behemoth.
A strange old night in Wisconsin, though. Stop-start in its nature and not what a sell-out 78,000 crowd had hoped for. For a club that has arranged the bare minimum by way of pre-season matches, this was a little disruptive, with players off for around 45 minutes as the rain poured in.
Yet the Haaland goal delivered promise of what is to come from him in England: scorer of the classic Guardiola move. Ball to the byline, cutback for a striker and in, although that is to do the contributions of Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish a slight disservice.
De Bruyne robbed Leroy Sane of possession 20 yards out, sliding to Grealish, whose little flick across his body sent Dayot Upamecano over the water to Michigan. Haaland waited patiently in the six-yard box. Looked easy for them but it certainly was not.
The 22-year-old thought he had a second, long after the storm delay, when Bernardo Silva squared for him again but that became subject to a dubious offside call.
Despite the low-key build-up to another title defence, City looked slick. More direct with Haaland leading the line – replaced at the break by Julian Alvarez – and with De Bruyne in a very advanced position. The Belgian should fill his boots this term.
Bayern had one disallowed too, Serge Gnabry adjudged offside, but were second best for the majority. Grealish purred from the left wing, telepathy with Haaland already and relying more on instinct than during his debut season.
Grealish is certainly the winner of this brief trip, again kicked to bits and again denied penalties. One hefty Benjamin Pavard challenge left him in a heap pleading the referee for protection.
Young left back Josh Wilson-Esbrand has done his reputation no harm either, barely giving Kingsley Coman a sniff and moving progressively in possession. One never-ending run ended with Sven Ulreich pulling off a decent stop.
Ulreich also denied Riyad Mahrez following De Bruyne’s lung-busting counter attack. City head straight to the airport for home hoping they can actually take off in the weather but at least Haaland managed it on his first outing.
Haaland thought he had a second after converting a Bernardo Silva cross – but it was offside
Haaland thought he had a second after converting a Bernardo Silva cross – but it was offside
Leave a Reply