Erling Haaland can eye more Man City records after £325m transfer boost

Enzo Maresca flexed his new £325m midfield as Manchester City kept their cool to pick up a crucial Champions League win. Tempers flared in the tunnel at half-time as Porto fumed at a number of decisions but Erling Haaland came back out and scored a second-half brace as City battled to see out the victory.

Maresca has mixed up his midfield for every game this season and here he took the big decision to drop £116m man Elliot Anderson to the bench and hand Ayyoub Bouaddi his first start since his £81m move from Lille this summer. The Moroccan may be the younger of the two but crucially has more Champions League experience, having started his first game in the competition on his 17th birthday in a 1-0 win over Real Madrid.

For all that City are only at the beginning of a new era, their manager knows that they need immediate results and nowhere is that more important than in Europe where the race to rack up the 16 points likely needed to secure a top-eight finish has already begun. With reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain rocking up to Manchester in the second round of fixtures and more tricky trips ahead in Leipzig and Barcelona, City really needed a result in Porto.

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To get it, it's a simple one-two punch.

Maresca called on all the experience his young squad have, and they delivered with a mature performance that often seemed beyond Pep Guardiola's team in this competition. It was more measured and methodical that the opening City games under Maresca have been, yet City carved out the best chances in the first half and were rewarded when Erling Haaland scored within two minutes of the restart.

The Norwegian headed in a looped cross from Enzo Fernandez, the Argentine quickly settling into the team after his £125m move. Fernandez, one of three former Lisbon-based players in the City starting XI, joined his new teammates in keeping their cool as Porto riled themselves up and tried to convince the referee that Marc Guehi and Josko Gvardiol deserved red cards in separate incidents; tempers boiled over in the tunnel at half-time, with staff from both clubs involved.

That City were able to silence the stadium with a goal two minutes into the second half made things even sweeter, and immediately withdrawing Gvardiol defused things further. Porto threatened more as they pushed for an equaliser, but Anderson and Iliman Ndiaye came on for the final half hour to reinforce the side as Maresca flexed the strength that City's summer spending has brought.

For all the new faces, City's fate still seems wrapped up with Haaland and the 26-year-old is now one of the longest serving players. Stepping up to become the vice-captain this season has not stopped his hunt for goals and two goals in Porto moved him onto 167 for City - past Tommy Johnson to go third on the club's all-time list.

Haaland is motivated by individual record but craves team honours more, and City have something to prove after at least two years of underperforming. With a completely new midfield brought in for support and Maresca giving fresh energy to a squad that needed refreshing, a fine start for the Blues continued in Porto as they aim to leave United seeing red after the Manchester derby on Sunday.