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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Jack Flintham

Erling Haaland steals show on Man City debut vs Bayern Munich

Haaland steals the show in Green Bay

He may have only played 40 minutes, with a 55-minute delay in between the first 13 and the following 27, but Erling Haaland proved why he was the main attraction in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It took him just 12 minutes to make his mark on proceedings, sliding in to divert Jack Grealish's cross home.

Despite a shorter debut than might have been expected, Haaland showed he has the capabilities to create a brilliant partnership with not only Grealish but Riyad Mahrez. The latter two enjoyed flinging crosses into the box for the 22-year-old.

It is fair to say that there is a lot to be excited about with Haaland at City.

ALSO READ: City ratings vs Bayern as Haaland good

Manchester weather comes to the USA

It was not until an hour before kick-off that the weather decided it wanted to try and upstage Haaland. Heavy rain peppered both sets of players ahead of the fixture at Lambeau Field.

However, it got a lot more serious when the start was delayed for 10 minutes. Following the only goal of the game a further, more lengthy delay was incurred causing the match to be reduced to 80 minutes.

The delay perhaps took the flow out of the game but, like typical Manchester summertime, the sun managed to finally make an appearance before full time to dry off a rather sodden 78,000 crowd.

Youngsters continue to impress

Josh Wilson-Esbrand was given the huge opportunity to stake his claim as Oleksandr Zinchenko's successor this season. If in the first half he may have looked nervy, the teenager came into his own in the second and forced a good save from Sven Ulreich.

Cole Palmer also showed what he could do in the second 40, his exciting potential on full display in Wisconsin. But the cameo of the day went to Rico Lewis.

Having barely been on a minute, the 17-year-old proceeded to dance through the Bayern defence before unleashing a fierce drive which cannoned off the post. It was desperately unlucky for the right-back.

Dias returns

A pleasing sight for all City fans was the return of Ruben Dias to the starting XI. In truth he could have had trickier games to come back to as the Blues managed to restrict Bayern to just three shots.

However, what he needed to do was done well before he was replaced by Kyle Walker early on in the second half. The Portuguese defender seemed to get through unscathed which is the most important thing.

Ake shows his class

Haaland will take the headlines but Nathan Ake proved why Chelsea wanted to sign him this summer. The Dutch defender did not put a foot wrong as Serge Gnabry, Leroy Sane and co were restricted to few chances.

Ake looked well at home in the centre-back position and after the mistake which led to Henry Martin's goal for Club America, the 27-year-old re-established himself as competition for Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Dias this season.

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