Manchester City have cruised to victory in their third Champions League match against Sparta Prague with Erling Haaland making headlines once again.
The Norwegian had a quiet first-half, but sprung into action midway through the second.
After Phil Foden gave Manchester City the lead, Haaland left the Etihad Stadium crowd stunned with a superb acrobatic backheel.
John Stones then scored his second goal in two games, before Haaland finished off a terrific sweeping move.
Matheus Nunes, who was superb throughout, capped off the evening by winning a penalty and scoring it himself for his first goal in the competition.
Most will be talking about Haaland for that stunning acrobatic effort alone.
But there is an argument tonight that Savinho was City’s star man.
Savinho shines alongside Haaland for Man City in win over Sparta Prague
Savinho was simply a breath of fresh air tonight for Manchester City in their third League Phase match against Sparta Prague.
The Brazilian was a menace all night on the right-hand side, and finished with one assist to his name.
As per Sofascore data, Savinho was heavily involved, having 73 touches in the game. Sparta’s two left-sided defenders Matěj Ryneš and Asger Sørensen certainly had their work cut out.
He was very tidy on the ball, completing 43/49 (88%) passes, with a whopping five of those being ‘key’. Savinho also made two ‘big’ chances, and completed 4/8 dribbles.
Savinho was also industrious, contesting the most duels of any City player on the pitch with 13 (winning 6).
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Savinho must add goals to his game for Man City
Perhaps the only blemish tonight for Savinho was that he still did not manage to get himself on the scoresheet.
He has now made 11 appearances for the club since his £33 million move from Troyes. He has impressed creatively, making four assists. But he is still yet to open his account.
Undoubtedly, this is the area of his game he now needs to work on.
This season, there has been a big reliance on Haaland to score the goals and Pep Guardiola needs other people to start chipping in.
The Brazilian gets himself into wonderful positions thanks to that electric turn of pace and dribbling ability, so there is no reason why he can’t start finding the net fairly regularly.
