MAnchester City’s striker star Erling Haaland made a perfect comeback before the Champions League duel with FC Bayern Munich. After recovering from a groin injury, the Norwegian scored twice in the English football champions’ comfortable 4-1 (1-0) win at bottom FC Southampton on Saturday. Coach Pep Guardiola’s team welcomes FC Bayern to the first leg of the quarter-finals in the premier class on Tuesday (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Champions League and on Prime Video).
“I’m very happy with his performance after his injury,” said Guardiola after the game. “The first half wasn’t our best level, but he changed the game.” With regard to the Bayern match, the former Munich coach said about Haaland: “We need him.”
The former Dortmund player took the lead in the city shortly before the half-time whistle. After Jack Grealish made it 2-0 (58th minute), the 22-year-old increased the lead to 3-0 (68th) with a spectacular lateral pull following Grealish’s preliminary work. For Haaland it was already the 30th goal of the season. After Sékou Mara’s 1:3 (72nd), Argentina’s world champion Julian Alvarez scored the final 4:1 with a penalty kick (75th).
With 67 points, Manchester City are currently five points behind leaders Arsenal. The Gunners are guests on Sunday (5.30 p.m. / Sky) at Jürgen Klopps FC Liverpool.
Meanwhile, Chelsea continued their negative streak in the English Premier League under new interim coach Frank Lampard. The team around the German national player Kai Havertz lost 1-0 (0-1) at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday and has now been without a win in the league for five games. After separating from previous coach Graham Potter on Thursday, Chelsea brought Lampard back as coach until the end of the season. He had previously coached Chelsea from 2019 to 2021.
Chelsea put in a disappointing performance against Wolverhampton and deservedly lost to a goal from Matheus Nunes (31st minute). Eleventh in the table, Chelsea are already 17 points behind fourth-placed Manchester United, who previously clinched an important win. The team led by former Bundesliga professionals Jadon Sancho and Marcel Sabitzer beat Everton FC 2-0 (1-0) but had to cope with Marcus Rashford’s injury. “We’ll have to wait and see, it doesn’t look good,” said coach Erik ten Hag.
The 44-year-old former international Lampard should initially coach Chelsea until the end of the season. This gave those responsible enough time to look for a new coach. The former Spanish national coach Luis Enrique and Julian Nagelsmann were also recently discussed after the separation from FC Bayern.
