Erling Haaland was livid with Manchester City for failing to see off Monaco as Pep Guardiola's side had to make do with a 2-2 draw in the second game of their Champions League campaign. Haaland had twice given City the lead in Monaco but a wonder strike from Jordan Teze and a late penalty from former Tottenham ace Eric Dier snatched a point for the hosts.
GettyHaaland passes Henry and equals Salah with deadly double
City's Norwegian goal machine continued where he had left off on the weekend with his two goals against Burnley, netting twice in the first half in Monaco to score his 51st and 52nd goals in the Champions League. Haaland prodded home a delicious pass from Josko Gvardiol to score with his first touch of the game and move past Thierry Henry as the 11th top scorer in the competition's history. Before the end of the first half he had drawn level with Mohamed Salah in 10th. Haaland's brilliant brace was not enough for City to take all three points, however.
AdvertisementHaaland curses City's lack of killer instinct
The striker could not hide his frustration at City's failure to win a match they had dominated for large parts and he claimed they took their foot off the pedal in the second half, giving Monaco an invitation back into the match. "Of course, I don't feel good," he told . "We didn't win. We did something unnecessarily in the second half, and I don't think played good enough, so we didn't deserve to win. We needed more energy. We needed to get at them more. As we did in the first hour, we dominated much more, and now in the second half, they took the lead much more, and I don't think it's good enough."
Getty Images SportHaaland berates Gonzalez for penalty giveaway
City players and staff were incensed at the decision to award a late penalty to Monaco for Nico Gonzalez's high foot on Dier. Two members of the coaching staff were shown red cards and a furious Monaco staff member could be heard saying "Show respect" to the visiting bench. Haaland, however, had no complaints with the decision. The striker said: "I didn't see it again, but I don't know… if you kick someone in the face, I guess that's a penalty."
City collapse brings back bad memories from last season
Guardiola's side's failure to see out the game was reminiscent of their struggles in last season's Champions League. City blew a three-goal lead to draw at home to Feyenoord while they lost 4-1 at Sporting CP after scoring first and also surrendered a two-goal advantage to lose 4-2 at Paris Saint-Germain. The capitulations meant that City had to win their final League Phase game to scramble a spot in the knockout play-offs, where they were destroyed 6-3 on aggregate by Real Madrid.