Porto 0-2 Manchester City: Erling Haaland gives Enzo Maresca his first Champions League win as City manager, but the English side are unimpressive

Erling Haaland’s brace gave Manchester City a 2-0 win over Porto, but it was another game in which Enzo Mareschi’s side won but failed to convince.

City’s main man in attack was surprisingly wasteful in the first half, seeing two superb chances in the box saved by Diogo Costa and another good chance heading over the crossbar.

The Porto goalkeeper was in inspired form in the opening 45 minutes and also did well to save Ryan Cerchi’s deflection from one of Haaland’s chances.

But it took Haaland just two minutes of the second period to turn things around, pushing Jakub Kivior aside and nodding in to Enzo Fernandez’s cross off the post.

But City then eased off the gas as the Portuguese champions’ confidence began to rise. Porto failed to hit the target, but Alan Varela sent a warning shot wide of the far post from the edge of the penalty area.

Gianluigi Donnarumma then nearly intercepted the ball from Porto striker William Gomes, with the City goalkeeper lucky to see the ball run to safety. However, City found a way to seal the result as Haaland saved Ryan Ait-Nouri’s shot in stoppage time.

Despite another game this season in which City won but struggled to impress, Maresca failed to win on the road in three Champions League away games as Chelsea manager last season.

He will view the winning start to this campaign as a positive, especially as City became the first team to beat Porto at the Stadio Dragau this calendar year.

But improvements are needed ahead of Sunday’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford, live Sky Sport.

Sunday, September 13, 16:00.

Starts at 16:30.

Highlights of the Dragau Stadium

16: SAVE! Antoine Semeño makes a bright start and strikes Diogo Costa’s gloves early.

21: BIG CHANCE FOR HAALAND! Semenyo passes to Phil Foden, who crosses into the penalty area for Haaland, who is denied by Costa’s striking glove.

27: BIG MISS! Haaland missed another good chance thanks to a cross from the left, this time from Semenyo.

29: BIG SAVINGS! Foden makes a confusing run in and around the penalty area and forces Costa into another save.

31: DOUBLE SAVE! Possessed man! Costa parries Haaland’s low effort from inside the box and then gets up to stop Ryan Cherki’s rebound.

42: OH! Marc Guey catches Gabri Veiga with his hand, causing a lot of blood to spill. With Porto demanding a red card for a hard elbow, the Manchester City defender escapes punishment. This was more accidental than malicious.

47: TARGET! Haaland needed just two minutes to make amends for his poor first half, nodding his header onto the post from Enzo Fernandez’s cross.

49: NO FINE! City goalkeeper Donnarumma runs into Porto striker Pepe in the penalty area… but the offside flag goes up against the striker.

57: SO CLOSE! Porto midfielder Alan Varela had a chance to strike and it flew wide of the far post. This was Porto’s first shot of the game.

66: NERVOUS! Donnarumma almost intercepted the ball from Porto striker Gomez, but the ball flew out of bounds and was used for a goal kick.

85: JUST WIDE! City substitute Ait-Nouri has a chance to seal the result, but shoots wide from a good penalty area.

90+1: TARGET! Haaland sealed the result by marking Ait-Nouri’s cut after he had done well to reach the byline.

Should Maresca be happy with Manchester City’s performance?

Manchester City attack Erling Haaland on Amazon Prime:

“I hope so, we will win on the road in a difficult game. Look at that atmosphere, it was unreal at times. So I hope [yes].

“An amazing game against the Portuguese champions. We knew it would be a tough fight, man against man. This is the best team, impressive, all of them. They play amazing football.”

“They are great. But despite all the pressure, we must perform on the biggest stage. That’s exactly what we did tonight.

“To be honest, we controlled the entire first half. Of course, it’s a little uncomfortable when they score high. But we created a lot of chances. I could have easily scored a few more goals.

“But in the second half we scored and they managed to push us for a good 25 minutes. We managed to survive and finish the game.

“These are games we have to win. We had a great start to the season and in the Champions League you need to win games. If not, then all the pressure is on you. You never know what will happen.”

“We need to learn. Enzo has to demand a lot from us and from each other. At Manchester City we have to win games and win trophies, that’s what we have to do.”

And here is Maresca’s verdict – he is happy!

Manchester City head coach Enzo Maresca on Amazon Prime:

“We could have scored more goals, especially in the first half. But overall we deserved the victory. We created enough chances to win and didn’t concede many.

“It’s normal to come here and miss some of the noise, so overall I’m happy with the game.

“If you think you’re going to come here to this stadium and just play and not miss anything, that’s not reality. It’s normal that they’re going to create something. They didn’t create a lot – some actions, some mistakes on our part. But I think that’s normal.”

Analysis: Manchester City continue to play with fire

Enzo Maresca is right. It is impossible to turn away from the victory away from Porto – an intimidating atmosphere that is not used to losing. That they did it in such a way that they conceded little in terms of clear odds is also a positive.

But look at City’s performance this season. Destroyed by Arsenal in the Community Shield, followed by a successful win over Bournemouth. They followed that up with a resounding win over Crystal Palace before they nearly dropped the ball in a 1-0 win at Coventry.

This was another game where they could have lost the ball. City dominated for 47 minutes before allowing Porto to get back into the game. There were weak passes and constant losses of possession – a stronger team would have found a way to get back into the game.

City face an even tougher test on Sunday. No team will be more desperate to take advantage of this performance than Manchester United at Old Trafford. This will be another big atmosphere that the city of Mareschi will have to overcome. But if they continue to play with fire, they will get burned.

What does the result and next matches mean…