Haaland scores as Man City edge Leipzig in five-goal thriller

Shamoon Hafez
Football reporter

Erling Haaland scored the winner to continue his formidable goalscoring record against RB Leipzig as Manchester City returned to winning ways by collecting three points in the Champions League.

Enzo Maresca's side have fallen to back-to-back defeats in the Premier League and edged past Brighton on penalties in the Carabao Cup, but emerged victorious in Germany in a thrilling game that ebbed and flowed.

City were struggling to break down the obdurate Leipzig backline and it was the home side who had the better chances in the opening exchanges.

Antonio Nusa's effort from outside the area almost squirmed in through the grasp of Gianluigi Donnarumma but landed on top of the net, while Christoph Baumgartner curled narrowly wide of the far post.

Having had plenty of possession without threatening, City were given a gift by home defender Castello Lukeba, who conspired to get his feet in a muddle and ended up sliding Nico O'Reilly's harmless cross into his own net.

But the visitors returned the favour at the start of the second half - Donnarumma's recent form has been questionable and the Italian left his near post far too exposed, allowing Ridle Baku to squeeze in the equaliser.

City restored their lead on 57 minutes through Enzo Fernandez's bullet header, but the lead was short-lived as Nusa drilled home a brilliant low finish on the hour mark to draw Leipzig level again.

Maresca's men pushed on and got their reward through captain Haaland, who slid home the winner on 78 minutes from Elliot Anderson's low cross for his 13th goal in nine games against Leipzig.

Man City ratings

Gianluigi Donnarumma: The mistakes are starting to stack up for the Italian. Saved Antonio Nusa's drive from range unconvincingly and had a shocker for Ridle Baku's equaliser. 4

Matheus Nunes: Made an important block in front of goal to deny David Raum's thumping drive and won more possession than any other City player. 7

Abdukodir Khusanov: The Uzbek made more clearances than any other player on the pitch but was booked late on for a rash challenge. 6

Marc Guehi: Restored to the starting XI after being dropped on Saturday, the England international showed an improvement after recent shaky performances. 6

Nico O'Reilly: An attacking threat. Provided the cross for the opening goal and should have scored when he sent a free header wide. 7

Elliot Anderson: Another all-action performance from Anderson. Made more tackles than any team-mate, no player won more duels and laid on Erling Haaland's winning goal. 8

Enzo Fernandez: The £125m man had gone seven games without contributing a goal or assist but came up trumps with a thumping header. 7

Iliman Ndiaye: Making his first Champions League start, the Senegal international was deployed from the left and sent in an inch-perfect cross for Fernandez's goal. 7

Phil Foden: Lost possession much too often and had little influence in the final third, but he did nearly score the opener with an effort that drifted inches wide. 5

Rayan Cherki: Dragged a shot wide from inside the box early on but improved later in the game by clipping a shot against the crossbar. 6

Erling Haaland: Skipper for the night, Haaland was feeding off scraps but came alive late on to score the winner. 7

Subs:

Jeremy Doku (on 64, Foden) Could have sealed it late in injury time but blazed over from close range. 6

Ruben Dias (on 80, Nunes) 6

Ayyoub Bouaddi (on 83, Fernandez) 6

Mateo Kovacic (on 83, Anderson) 6

Allan (on 83, Ndiaye) 6

Subs not used: Bettinelli, Rulli, Ait-Nouri, Reis, Gvardiol, Samba, Lewis.

Player of the match

E. Anderson
7.32
7 A. Nusa
6.42
10 B. Gruda
5.75
17 R. Baku
5.66
14 C. Baumgartner
5.61
26 M. Vandevoordt
5.59
22 D. Raum
5.37
40 Rômulo
5.37
28 C. Nkunku
5.27
39 B. Henrichs
5.23
4 W. Orbán
5.20
21 N. El Aynaoui
5.19
13 N. Seiwald
5.19
20 R. Reitz
5.17
6 E. Banzuzi
5.14
27 T. Gomis
5.12
23 C. Lukeba
5.11
Back to team tabs

After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.