Haaland double not enough for victory as Monaco score late leveller | OneFootball

Erling Haaland’s brace was not quite enough to earn all three points for City in a 2-2 Champions League draw at Monaco.

Haaland opened the scoring with his very first touch after 14 minutes at the Stade Louis II before the Ligue 1 side grabbed an unstoppable equaliser a few minutes later.

Our No.9 restored our advantage on the cusp of half-time with a powerful header before a late controversial Eric Dier penalty squared it up for the hosts.

The result means we have four points from a possible six at the start of the new European campaign.

The game in 280 words

City’s early control told when Josko Gvardiol chipped the ball over the defence for Erling Haaland to race on to and deftly chip goalkeeper Philipp Kohn with his very first touch.

The hosts were level three minutes after our opener thanks to a brilliant, whipped shot into the top corner from range by Jordan Teze.

City pressed and probed in the minutes that followed and Phil Foden then came agonisingly close to restoring our lead in the 33rd minute with a thumping right-footed effort that cannoned back off the crossbar.

Haaland seemed certain to get his second a few minutes before half-time, following up a Kohn save but not quite wrapping his foot around the ball enough to turn it in from a tight angle.

He wasn’t to be denied though, powering a header from a Nico O’Reilly cross into the far corner shortly before the half-time whistle.

Monaco winger Maghnes Akliouche brought the best out of Gianluigi Donnarumma as the hour mark approached. He struck low and hard but our giant Italian goalkeeper was down in a flash to block.

As Monaco stepped forward in search of an equaliser, City almost made them pay when a swift move ended with Reijnders shifting the ball out of his feet and striking the bar from 15 yards.

Instead, Monaco earned a controversial penalty in the 90th minute when Nico was adjudged to have used a high boot on Eric Dier.

Referee Jesus Gil Manzano initially ignored the appeals but after a VAR check, he pointed to the spot despite our Spanish midfielder clearly playing the ball.

Dier dusted himself down and sent Donnarumma the wrong way to earn a point for the hosts.

Teams

CITY XI: Donnarumma, Stones (Nunes 72), Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Rodri (Nico 60), Bernardo (C), Reijnders, Foden, Doku (Savinho 60), Haaland

Subs: Trafford, Bettinelli, Ake, Kovacic, Bobb, Mukasa, Lewis

MONACO XI: Kohn, Vanderson (Ouattara 21), Dier, Kehrer (C), Salisu (Ilenikhena 81), Diatta, Teze (Cabral 81), Coulibaly, Fati (Idumbo 64), Akliouche, Balogun (Biereth 81)

Subs: Stawiecki, Lienard, Henrique, Minamino

Key takeaways

Deadly – It’s no secret to anyone that’s been watching European football in the last half a decade that Erling Haaland doesn’t need much of an opening to score.

The Norwegian didn’t touch the ball in the first 14 minutes of this one, watching on as City passed the ball around the midfield searching for the perfect opportunity.

It presented itself when Gvardiol produced a delicious pass to set the Norwegian free and, with one flick of his left leg, he had the opener in the blink of an eye.

The second was just as brutal, shrugging off man mountain defenders to send an unstoppable header into the bottom corner.

That’s 52 strikes in 50 Champions League appearances, meaning he’s already ninth in the all-time European Cup scorers.

Positive perspective - While the late equaliser was very difficult to take, it's worth looking at our recent results as a whole.

This draw now means we've won four and drawn two since the last international break, meaning we remain in a decent position in both the Premier League and Champions League.

With one more match left before another international window, a victory at Brentford could ensure we have momentum to take into the return.

Star man

Erling Haaland - No surprises here.

There were chances for Tijjani Reijnders, Phil Foden and Nico O'Reilly amongst others, but Haaland is one of those rare players that makes a difference with almost every involvement.

Almost impossibly, the Norwegian seems to have stepped up to another level so far in 2025/26.

He now has 11 goals in eight appearances this term and was just one more strike in this match away from his 12th City hat-trick.

Pep reaction

"A really good game. Unfortunately we didn’t defend the final free-kick not perfectly.

"The penalty was given, that’s all. I don’t know. The team was really, really good.

"We know from experience [that the Champions League is tough]. It’s a good point, we’ll take it and look to the next match."

Haaland reaction

"Of course I don’t feel good. We didn’t win and we did something unnecessary in the second half and I don’t think we played good enough. We don’t deserve to win.

"We need more energy. We need to get at them more as we did in the first half, we dominated much more. In the second half they took the lead much more. I don’t think it’s good enough.

"Every Champions League game is tough. Look at last year we went out. Every single game is tough. Not many teams won their first two games and that’s how it is."

What it means

City have four points from our first two games of this season’s UEFA Champions League league phase.

We have six matches remaining at this stage of the competition, with the top eight progressing straight to the Round of 16.

Sides that finish ninth to 24th will play in a two-legged play-off tie.

What’s next

We’ll travel to Brentford in the Premier League for a 16:30 (UK) kick-off on Sunday 5 October in what will be our final game before the latest international break.

Our next Champions League assignment is a trip to Spanish club Villarreal on Tuesday 21 October.