Erling Haaland was able to shake Real Madrid’s net for the first time in his career.
This happened during the Manchester City and Real Madrid match in the first leg of the 2025 Champions League Round of 16 play-off.
Josko Gvardiol prepared the ball with his chest to Haaland inside the penalty area, and the Norwegian international did not hesitate to shoot it powerfully and put it in the net of Thibaut Courtois in the 19th minute.
The video technology needed more than 3 minutes to confirm the validity of the goal after confirming that Haaland was not in an offside position.
⚽️🔥 هالاند يفتتح التسجيل لمانشستر سيتي بتمريرة مميزة من غفارديول#دوري_أبطال_أوروبا | #مانشستر_سيتي_ريال_مدريد#UCL pic.twitter.com/5bBeiPJdN5
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 11, 2025
Before this goal, Haaland participated in 4 matches against Real, failing to score in all of them.
Because of this, Haaland was under severe criticism and many considered that he does not appear in the big matches, but finally the player responded to all this criticism.
This is the second time Haaland has scored in the presence of Kylian Mbappe, after scoring two goals against Paris Saint-Germain, when he was a player at Borussia Dortmund, in 2020.