Erling Haaland didn’t have enough even after the final whistle of a historic derby. He puffed out his cheeks, indicated a disbelieving shake of his head – then he went hunting for the game ball as a trophy hunter. With success: after three goals and two assists for Manchester City in the 6: 3 (4: 0) against United, the display case of the sensational striker gets a new exhibit. “Six goals, that’s wonderful,” enthused Haaland in the Sky interview. “What else is there to say?” He generously passed the second ball to Phil Foden, who also scored three goals. Never before have there been so many goals in the Manchester derby.
City humiliated United for 90 minutes and that was down to Haaland first and foremost. After Foden’s 1-0 (8th minute) and a shot at the post by Ilkay Gündogan (19th), the 22-year-old initially hit his head. Curiously, his opponent in this scene was United’s much smaller midfielder Christian Eriksen (34th). Three minutes later, Haaland grabbed a cross from Kevin de Bruyne and scored his 13th goal in his eighth league game. De Bruyne has now played 94 goals, more than any other City player in Premier League history.
Before the break, Haaland was allowed to play a cross pass past three United pros in the penalty area – Foden (44′) also scored for the second time. There were many United fans who left the Etihad Stadium after that. “Wow, what a monster,” wrote Haaland’s former teammate Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund) on Twitter: Fortunately, the Norwegian is “now playing in another country”.
In the continuation of a spectacle, Antony (56th) scored the fantastic first goal for the guests, with Cristiano Ronaldo only sitting on the bench. Then Haaland (64th) struck again, for the third time in a row he scored three goals in one game. And then he hung up again for Phil Foden (72nd): The hosts got their second triple goal scorer of the day. After that, Anthony Martial (84th/90th, penalty kick) was allowed to put in two more for the Reds. The humiliation remained.
The sky-blue Citizens are still not leaders. Arsenal continue to lead the field with 21 points from eight games after beating Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 in the north London derby on Saturday. City has accumulated 20 points. Haaland had been looking forward to this game since the day it was presented. He hardly dared to say the opponent’s name, he said at the time: “But for me the most important duel will be against United.” United could have been warned.
Wolverhampton Wanderers, meanwhile, have fired their team manager Bruno Lage after falling into the English Premier League relegation zone. The club announced this decision on Sunday, one day after the 2-0 loss at West Ham United on matchday eight. The Portuguese Lage had looked after the team since June 2021. The Wolves are third from bottom in the table with just six points and one win. A successor to Lage has not yet been named.
