--- source: thedugout.football generated: 2026-09-08T21:36:47.863Z last_updated: 2026-09-08T21:08:19+00:00 data_provider: API-Football canonical: https://thedugout.football/clubs/manchester-city/news/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGhlZ3VhcmRpYW4uY29tL2Zvb3RiYWxsLzIwMjYvc2VwLzA4L3BvcnRvLW1hbmNoZXN0ZXItY2l0eS1jaGFtcGlvbnMtbGVhZ3VlLW1hdGNoLXJlcG9ydA --- # Haaland double gives Manchester City ideal Champions League start in Porto - **Source:** - **Published:** 8 Sept - **Club:** Manchester City - **Original URL:** https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/sep/08/porto-manchester-city-champions-league-match-report They had lost six of their past nine away games in the competition and also lost the 2021 Champions League final at this venue, so to beat Porto and claim three points is a fillip for the manager’s nascent project. Factor in, too, how City face Paris Saint-Germain on matchday No 2, and travel to Manchester United for Sunday’s derby, and Maresca can be exuberant at his start as Pep Guardiola’s successor. All four games have been won – maybe more than even he would have hoped for, Erling Haaland’s double keeping the perfect start going. With 16 points the accepted target to qualify automatically for the knockout stage, as this was required in the first two years of this format, Maresca may have considered a win here vital particularly as targeting four victories from City’s four home matches as necessary to reach the tally might founder due to the visit of the double European champions next month. Maresca stood down Elliot Anderson and gave Ayyoub Bouaddi a full debut, alongside Enzo Fernández in midfield. Haaland was not given the rest Maresca stated he will need at some point soon, as the No 9 headed an attack that contained Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo behind. Bouaddi, playing deeper than Fernández, proved calm, though a surge forward was followed by the Argentinian heading in the area. The issue was Porto being content to allow City to pitter-patter passes about their backline and middle third and there being no quickness of play or penetration. Francesco Farioli’s men offered an example of exactly how when Marc Guéhi’s ball short-changed Bouaddi, possession was nabbed, and suddenly William Gomes had to be stopped on the edge of City’s area. Earlier, Gabriel Veiga sliced through the rearguard and had Gianluigi Donnarumma saving: the offside flag went up but here were two warnings. Discard the ponderous pace might have been Maresca’s message because when Foden switched flanks from the right and accelerated, Porto were splayed, and Haaland’s header from the cross required Diogo Costa’s gloves to keep the contest goalless. A near-carbon copy came when Semenyo popped the ball over from the left but this time Haaland’s header sailed over. City were warming up: Foden, Cherki and Haaland all being denied, as Porto were caught in a chokehold in and around their area. At Leicester and then Chelsea Maresca could draw criticism for a quasi-sideways style at times. Yet after the slowish passage, tonight’s XI had become direct and a threat, as when Bouaddi chipped the ball left from near halfway, it went forward at speed, and a panicked Porto cleared. When Veiga went down after a challenge with Guéhi the match was halted, tempers frayed. The No 10 recovered – it appeared to be a head problem – and the action, finally, restarted before Szymon Marciniak blew his whistle for the break. After the now seemingly de rigueur fireworks before every Champions League game, Porto had begun with confidence sky-high after winning all five Primeira Liga outings so far and, when wandering off for half-time, they remained content. The mood changed almost instantaneously. City, at last, showed the ruthlessness needed at this level. Cherki, breaking into the area, swerved left, leaving Costa stranded. He fed Fernández and Haaland headed his cross into the turf and home – the visitors had a priceless lead. The lead was slender, as it was in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Coventry. Maresca acted as the hour passed, removing Cherki and Semenyo for Elliot Anderson and Iliman Ndiaye: two attackers for one forward and a holding player in Anderson whose role was to try and exert control for City, and aid Bouaddi in snuffing out any Porto threat. A second goal would also stymie the hosts, so Ndiaye skipped across the grass, and unloaded, though the effort went straight into Costa’s clutches. Foden, too, tried to break in behind but the ball was shepherded back to the Porto keeper. Whenever Farioli’s team moved forward City remained vulnerable despite Anderson’s presence. By the close, though, Haaland’s late right-foot stab ensured the result, and meant that even an interval dispute in the tunnel due to the Veiga-Guéhi clash was of scant import to City, despite tempers again meaning a further row.