{"id":395872,"date":"2026-01-28T23:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T23:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/395872\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T23:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T23:53:08","slug":"erling-haaland-sparks-manchester-city-win-over-galatasaray-to-seal-last-16-place-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/395872\/","title":{"rendered":"Erling Haaland sparks Manchester City win over Galatasaray to seal last-16 place | Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pep Guardiola often bemoans the schedule so Manchester City<\/a> \u00adentering the last 16 directly and miss the home-and-away knockout playoff round pleased the manager.<\/p>\n

City ended in eighth place due to Benfica\u2019s 4-2 win against Real Madrid, the Portuguese being led by his old adversary, Jos\u00e9 Mourinho, to whom Guardiola will be happy to offer a thank you message.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course,\u201d he said, City\u2019s \u00addressing room having been transfixed by the later finish at Est\u00e1dio da Luz. There, Anatoliy Trubin\u2019s 97th-minute header squeezed Benfica into the playoffs, with the goalkeeper being in Real\u2019s area initially puzzling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all there so we didn\u2019t know Benfica needed a goal to qualify so when the goalkeeper goes up, we say: \u2018Why you go?\u2019 But it was a good strategy for Jos\u00e9,\u201d the Catalan said.<\/p>\n

City will face one of Real Madrid, Inter, Bodo\/Glimt or Benfica in the last\u00a016. The draw to determine their opponents on 27 February, with \u00adGuardiola\u2019s side guaranteed to be at home in the second leg.<\/p>\n

The victory came from Erling \u00adHaaland\u2019s opener and Rayan \u00adCherki\u2019s second, each before the break. Yet a sour note came with J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku\u2019s injury on 36 minutes, after a tussle with Davinson S\u00e1nchez, and the winger is likely to miss the trip to Tottenham on Sunday. \u201cI think so,\u201d Guardiola said. \u201cHe is a calf [problem] \u2013 he felt something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of what was a patchy display against Galatasaray<\/a>, he said: \u201cThe first half was better than the \u00adsecond. Really pleased. Hopefully we can arrive in March for the next round at our best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haaland scored for only a second time in eight matches when sprinting on to Doku\u2019s defence splitter, then coolly chipped Ugurcan Cakir, the visiting No 1.<\/p>\n

Okan Buruk\u2019s side arrived as the Turkish champions of the past three seasons and Super Lig leaders by three points, having lost one of 19 games in the competition this term.<\/p>\n

Buruk\u2019s configuration was a 4-4-1-1 featuring Victor Osimhen as the No\u00a09, and the City old boys Ilkay G\u00fcndogan and Leroy San\u00e9 in central and right midfield respectively.<\/p>\n

City are no longer the slick unit that scythes their foes open as illustrated by Doku, then Nico O\u2019Reilly \u00adunloading at range, Bernardo Silva hoofing the ball straight up and Cherki being mugged near his area. Guardiola was furious and with Osimhen forcing Gianluigi Donnarumma into a low save, City\u2019s second goal was welcome. Doku, zipping about everywhere, popped up on the left, squared to Cherki, and in space in the area beat Cakir to the goalkeeper\u2019s right with ease.<\/p>\n

Rayan Cherki (centre) centre wheels away in celebration after doubling the home side\u2019s lead. Photograph: Nick Potts\/PA<\/p>\n

After half an hour City had risen to seventh place. Yet Guardiola, \u00adwithout the suspended Rodri and having again dropped Phil Foden, was unhappy \u2013 Cherki the focus of his ire. When Doku limped off after the tussle with S\u00e1nchez Foden entered, but when the ball broke to Matheus Nunes from a Cherki corner the defender dawdled and allowed Osimhen to charge towards goal. An anguished Guardiola watched as Nunes recovered but here was further sloppy football from City.<\/p>\n

Better was Rayan A\u00eft-Nouri\u2019s slaloming run that took him along the left: he picked out a free Foden but he scooped over and at the whistle for the break Guardiola strode off.<\/p>\n

Rayan Cherki celebrates scoring Manchester City\u2019s second goal with Matheus Nunes and fellow goalscorer Erling Haaland (right). Photograph: Scott Heppell\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Scores elsewhere meant City began the second half in the princely place of fourth \u2013 yet in the same odd mode, an A\u00eft-Nouri high ball smashed back from halfway for some reason, the latest jarring sight.<\/p>\n

When Nathan Ak\u00e9\u2019s distribution proved equally aimless, Guardiola delivered a verbal volley, and a period yet to have any rhythm was disrupted by three pitch invaders holding flags.<\/p>\n

Burak\u2019s team were on top. A foray down their left claimed a corner, Gabriel Sara dipped it in but Osimhen\u2019s header was simple for Donnarumma. A \u00adTurkish goal and City would be jittery and the visitors, in burgundy and orange, enjoyed the control to force one.<\/p>\n

When Cherki dropped deep and passed around the corner to Omar Marmoush along the left it was a rare attack from City \u2013 a quaint state of affairs for Guardiola\u2019s team. So, too, a hopeful long ball up to \u00adHaaland. The centre-forward found Marmoush who, if his touch was better, might have scored City\u2019s third.<\/p>\n

Instead, Osimhen nearly did \u2013 his shot had Donnarumma repelling smartly and Guardiola brought on Tijjani Reijnders for Marmoush.<\/p>\n

Nico Gonz\u00e1lez replaced Cherki for the closing minutes yet a clumsy \u00adHaaland pass caused Guardiola, again, to hold his head.<\/p>\n

A strange evening, then, for City and one that Guardiola will surely use to lecture his charges on what not to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pep Guardiola often bemoans the schedule so Manchester City \u00adentering the last 16 directly and miss the home-and-away…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-395872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}