Erling Haaland has broken yet another record following his fantastic finish in the Champions League last night, and Manchester City look to be getting back to business as usual.
It was a night which was set up to be a glorious homecoming (admittedly, sooner than expected) for Kevin De Bruyne, who paid his visit to the Etihad Stadium since leaving the club this summer, but not everything exactly went according to plan.
Not only did an early red card for Napoli see the Italian champions down to 10 men and effectively trying to survive for just over an hour, but the need for a tactical substitution from ex-Chelsea coach Antonio Conte also meant that De Bruyne was hooked off after just 26 minutes.
Being given an even more premature standing ovation than his return to his former club – Conte actually apologising to the Belgian for what he deemed a necessary sacrifice – and signalling a collapse in the second half, said downfall was largely brought on by this bit of genius from Haaland and Phil Foden:
As you can see, the assist from the ‘Stockport Iniesta’ was arguably even more deft than the header, but take nothing away from the move as a whole, because it felt like yet more signs of City getting back to their ingenious best.
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Special mention should go to Jeremy Doku as well, who’s speedy and direct drive then dribble into the six-yard box sealed the victory with a two-goal cushion and shared shades of his strike in the Manchester derby this past weekend.
However, it was yet another milestone moment for Haaland, who opened the scoring not only to put their first points on the board in the 2025/26 UCL campaign, but also became the fastest player to net 50 goals in the premier European competition.
Of course, we shouldn’t be that surprised by the achievement: Haaland was putting up serious numbers even before he arrived in England; he just seems to have increased the number of statistical feats he keeps surpassing since he got there.
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Speaking to the media after the game, Man City manager Pep Guardiola said Haaland should now be seen as up there with the likes of Messi and Ronaldo, remarking, “they are on another planet”.
“It’s not easy for Erling, always with many defenders around him”, he went on to add, “but he’s fantastic”, noting that he is improving already this season.
Do you agree with Pep’s bold claim – do you think he is ready to be considered among the greatest ever?
You watch Haaland reach another Champions League record and the rest of the highlights from Manchester City vs Napoli here.
New Amazon Prime Video docuseries to show Pep Guardiola’s final seasons at Manchester City
Emily Sergeant
A new all-access docuseries featuring Pep Guardiola’s final few seasons at Manchester City is set to air this summer.
Coming exclusively to Prime Video in the UK and Ireland, the four-part documentary is set to take Manchester City fans and neutral viewers alike inside the club as the players and manager – who delivered an era of dominance -make way for a new generation.
Filmed over the past two seasons, this is the ultimate account of an emotional farewell that marks the end of an era in English football, and will offer unfiltered access to Guardiola, his squad, and the City boardroom.
After 10 trophy-filled years – which included six Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League, three FA Cups, and five EFL Cups – Pep Guardiola called time on his tenure in Manchester last month, alongside fan favourite players Bernardo Silva and John Stones, as well as Kevin De Bruyne the season prior.
This new docuseries was there to follow them every step of the process.
Fans can follow City from a disappointing 2024/25 campaign right through to a domestic double the following season, charting the raw emotion of a squad in transition.
The series is directed by Academy and BAFTA award-winning filmmaker, Kevin Macdonald, alongside City Studios’ John De Caux, and is produced by Kevin Macdonald for Plan B/KM Films and Gavin Johnson and Ged Doherty for City Studios.
“This is the ultimate account of an emotional farewell that marks the end of an era in English football,” Amazon Prime Video said in a statement.
Joining Prime Video’s wide selection of sports programming, the series will be available to watch at no additional cost to Prime members this summer.
It’ll be ready to stream on 19 August.
Featured Image – Prime Video
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Here’s our petition for ‘Wonderwall’ to become England’s new football anthem
Danny Jones
All things considered, England have made a great start to the 2026 World Cup, pitching themselves as one of the great entertainers this tournament, and the scenes of the supporters and players alike serenading an entire stadium with ‘Wonderwall’ after the full-time whistle gave us chills.
So why not time for a change?
After all, that feels a lot like what this World Cup squad is about: a new manager, new teammates, not clinging to the previous ways of playing – and perhaps it’s time to put ‘Sweet Caroline’ to one side.
Now, we’re by no means saying that we’re ‘done’ with the John Denver anthem that has been reborn as a Three Lions anthem, but look at how good it was watching England belting out Oasis with the fans.
“Today is gonna be the day that England beat Croatia 4-2”, as BBC’s Match of the Day cleverly quipped.
Obviously, we’re biased as Mancs, but we also think there’s something special about having that particular track feel so good to hear again.
As much as we love Oasis, for a long time, it felt like we couldn’t enjoy arguably their biggest-ever single anywhere near as much as we once did.
We assume it’s something akin to hearing ‘Mr Brightside’ non-stop for what felt like millennia, and in truth, hearing those repetitions of “ba, ba, ba… SO GOOD, SO GOOD!” over and over again at sporting fixtures beyond just national team games has taken the magic out of it at times.
Perhaps it’s just a case of saturation in certain settings and songs simply being overplayed – FIFA’s co-hosts over in the US certainly helped see to that when it came to ‘Wonderwall’ for a long time.
On the other hand, it feels like we’ve now come full circle; singing those famous lyrics at the top of our lungs in a sea of Mancs and fans travelling from all over to Heaton Park for Live ’25 last year felt better than ever, and like we’d all remembered how great a tune it’s always been. So did this…
In fact, this felt so emotional that you’ve got people who aren’t even English praising both those on the pitch and up in the stands for the moment online.
Even the admittedly rather American Man vs Food himself, Adam Richman (though he does have British ancestry), felt compelled to write a moving response on social media: “Shut up. You’re the one that’s crying. Bravo, England.”
He’s far from the only one who was left bowled over by the atmosphere – us included.
What do you think? Is it time for a new go-to tournament anthem for the Three Lions moving forward?
Danny Jones -
19th September 2025 
