Haaland is slowly but surely climbing the list of Champions League top scorers. After Wednesday's strike at home to Dortmund - a heavy, unstoppable shot to make it 2-0 in the 29th minute - the Norwegian football star is up to 54 in total, two behind Ruud van Nistelrooy.
The Dutchman is the eighth-highest scorer in the tournament's history, but on the other hand, it took him 73 games to reach his 56 goals. None of the top scorers (Cristiano Ronaldo leads the way with 140) come close to Erling Braut Haaland's incredible average of over a goal per game.
Svensson with a big cut
A little further down the list is Phil Foden, but on Wednesday night he trumped his Norwegian teammate. He made it 1-0 in the 22nd minute when he, as provocatively as he elegantly, curled the ball in with a distinctive wide-side along the back from just outside the penalty area. From roughly the same position, but with a little more pressure in the box, he made it 3-0 just over ten minutes into the second half.
Waldemar Anton reduced for Dortmund but in added time Rayan Cherki increased again for City.
Manchester City have three wins and one draw in this year's Champions League. For Dortmund, with Daniel Svensson in the starting eleven, this was the first loss of the season. Svensson's biggest mark in the match was when he cut City's Savinho early in the game and went on to receive a clear yellow card.
Sema behind victory
Wednesday also brought some surprises.
Swedish international defender Ken Sema was behind Cypriot Pafos' first victory in the tournament's history when his corner found the head of Derrick Luckassen. The Dutchman's header made it 1-0 and was enough to secure three points at home against Spanish Villarreal.
And in Baku, Azerbaijani Karabakh managed to snuff out a big club Chelsea with an unexpected point. The match ended 2–2.
Club Brugge could have been the biggest surprise of the evening, but the Belgians didn't have the margins with them in the 3-3 draw at home against Barcelona. They were leading 1-0 but Barcelona came back. They were leading 2-1 but Barcelona equalized again. They were leading 3-2 and were awarded a penalty – but it was ruled out after a VAR review.
Barcelona equalized again, but in added time, Romeo Vermant nudged the ball from away goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and made it 4–3, he thought. But after another video review, Barcelona were awarded a free kick instead. The referee considered that Vermant was on Szczesny when the home player stole the ball from the Barcelona goalkeeper's dribbling attempt.
Facts: Top ten goalscorers in the Champions League
TT
-
Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal – 140 goals/183 matches
-
Lionel Messi, Argentina – 129/163
-
Robert Lewandowski, Poland – 105/136
-
Karim Benzema, France – 90/152
-
Raúl, Spain – 71/142.
-
Kylian Mbappé, France – 60/91
-
Thomas Müller, Germany – 57/163
-
Ruud van Nistelrooy, Netherlands – 56/73
-
Erling Braut Haaland, Norway – 54/52
-
Thierry Henry, France – 50/112.
