Manchester City take a 3-3 draw with Real Madrid back to the Etihad Stadium – and Steve McManaman expressed his sympathy for one player during tonight’s game.
The spoils were shared at the Bernabeu in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final, and Pep Guardiola will likely be fairly pleased with the result in the end.
City struggled in the first-half after Real Madrid responded to an early goal from Bernardo Silva, scoring twice in just a few minutes.
City got back level in the second-half through Phil Foden, who wowed Gary Lineker with his strike, before Josko Gvardiol scored a beauty of his own.
But Fede Valverde found an equaliser for the hosts.
Lots of City players were very involved in the game, but it was another quiet night for Erling Haaland – and commentator Steve McManaman expressed his sympathy for the Norwegian…
Steve McManaman says Erling Haaland had ‘excellent’ movement against Real Madrid but his Man City teammates didn’t find him
City fans were hoping to see Haaland enjoy a goal-filled performance tonight, as his scoring rate has slowed a little bit lately.
But there was very little chance of that tonight, because he really didn’t see much of the ball.
As per Sofascore, he had just 20 touches of the ball, and completed just six passes all game.
We know that this is how it usually is with Haaland, and that City often just work the ball from side to side rather than playing the ball incisively through the middle for the number nine.
But McManaman actually did feel a bit sorry for Haaland this evening against Real Madrid, believing he actually showed really good movement at times.
He said during the game on TNT Sports: “Haaland’s movement has been excellent tonight. He just doesn’t receive the ball a lot of the time because of course, it’s the way Manchester City play.
“They just have to be quicker with it. They’re moving the ball from side to side and keeping good possession but they very rarely feed him. But his movement, in his defence Erling Haaland, has been great. He runs from side to side wanting the ball a lot of the time.”
An off night for Haaland
Haaland did make some really good runs tonight, but by and large, it was not a great performance from the big man.
Antonio Rudiger had said before the game that he was keen to nullify Haaland, and he did that pretty effectively throughout.
He made life very difficult for the £51 million star.
Between that and the City players not really finding him, it was certainly a frustrating evening for the former Borussia Dortmund man.
It is fair to say that when Kevin De Bruyne is not playing for City, Haaland suffers. The Belgian is usually the one who tries to be a bit more direct and take risks in trying to find Haaland, and his absence seemed to affect his teammate.