Erling Haaland continues to blow the minds of football fans everywhere with goalscoring feats: this time it was with an acrobatic backheel that very few other players on the planet would even attempt.
Manchester City romped home against Sparta Praha with a 5-0 win in front of a delighted Etihad crowd who had already seen them put bag four in their previous Champions League fixture.
Nevertheless, high-scoring games are nothing new to Blues be it home or away – it was Haaland and his audacious, physics-defying backheel that was the story of the night and it’s not hard to see why…
We were all Bernardo Silva when Haaland pulled this out of the bag:
Just to offer a taster of some of the reactions that the fantastic finish produced in kind, social media was awash with praise for the Norwegian phenom.
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“I could watch this Erling Haaland finish over and over and over again omg”, “Just when you thought you’d seen Erling Haaland do it all”, “Jesus F***ing Christ from this angle” and “Haaland you crazy mf” were among the many of posts of people losing their minds.
One person shared this second angle with the caption, “Are you kidding me!?” while another had nothing more to add besides, “The guy’s a freak.”
For context, his sheer athleticism and ingenuity even with his stature isn’t lost on anyone in the City camp either; Pep Guardiola summed it as simply “unbelievable” and Matheus Nunes, who scored the fifth and final goal of the night from the spot, said it left him “speechless”.
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It’s also easy to forget that he actually scored two goals on the night, taking his tally to 44 in just 43 appearances – 21 of those in sky blue – managing the feat in less than half the amount of time it took footballing legend Didier Drogba to reach that figure (92 games). Generational.
We all know his numbers are ridiculous but is he the most versatile striker on the planet right now?
You can watch the rest of the highlights for another impressive night from Pep’s men down below:
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
24th October 2024 
