Man City’s Remarkable Comeback Seals Victory over Leipzig in Champions League

Erling Haaland achieved the milestone of becoming the quickest player to score 40 goals in the Champions League, propelling Manchester City to a 3-2 victory over RB Leipzig after trailing 2-0.

Despite being the defending champions, Manchester City seemed poised for their first European defeat at the Etihad since 2018, with Lois Openda capitalizing on defensive lapses to score twice in the first half. Haaland narrowed City’s deficit, and subsequent goals from Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez secured the top spot in Group G.

Even though Pep Guardiola’s team had already secured a place in the last 16, he fielded a strong lineup, emphasizing the importance of winning the group. However, Guardiola was visibly disappointed at halftime with the performance of the European champions, who dominated possession and territory but were undone by defensive errors from Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias.

Openda exploited Akanji’s mistake to score, and despite Haaland missing a chance to equalize, City continued to press forward. Another defensive lapse allowed Openda to score his 13th goal of the season.

Guardiola reacted by replacing Dias with Nathan Ake at halftime, but it was only after introducing Jeremy Doku and Alvarez that the comeback began. Alvarez played a key role in City’s first goal, setting up Foden, who then assisted Haaland for his historic 40th Champions League goal. Foden later scored from the edge of the box.

Although Leipzig thought they had regained the lead, a goal by Fabio Carvalho was disallowed for offside. City completed the comeback with Alvarez securing his fourth goal in as many Champions League appearances this season.

While Leipzig had already secured a spot in the last 16, the defeat means they may face challenging opponents like Barcelona or Real Madrid in the knockout stages.