Bayern Munich 0-1 Man City: Erling Haaland nets first City goal
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland scored 12 minutes into his unofficial debut for the club as the Premier League champions narrowly beat Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich in pre-season.
Haaland led the line for City in the first half, flanked by Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish from wide. There was no Sadio Mane for Bayern, but Matthijs de Ligt made his first appearance off the bench.
Julian Nagelsmman made full use of the bench available to him with 10 substitutions in total. City, meanwhile, begin their season with the Community Shield in less than a week and so Pep Guardiola looked to be heading to a normal game plan by making just five changes.
Possessions was pretty even overall, although chances and creativity was heavily stacked in City’s favour, considerably outshooting Bayern throughout.
Nagelsmann’s team lacked cutting edge and failed to actually get a shot on target to test Ederson. City peppered the Bayern goal, having more than 20 attempts in total, although only five of those were on target which meant it wasn’t exactly a busy night for either goalkeeper.
Haaland didn’t play when City beat Club America on Wednesday because of minor fitness concerns, but he looked sharp when he grabbed what proved to be the only goal of the game in the early stages. After Bayern failed to fully clear a free-kick from wide, Kevin De Bruyne’s clever pass put Grealish through and Haaland’s outstretched boot met the low cross in the six-yard box.
Nearly 80,000 people turned out at the iconic Lambeau Field in Green Bay to watch this one.
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Pavard, Hernandez, Davies, Sabitzer, Kimmich, Coman, Gnabry, Sane, Muller
Subs used: De Ligt, Wanner, Nianzou, Ulreich, Vidovic, Zirkzee, Gravenberch, Mazraoui, Musiala, Stanisic
Man City: Ederson, Cancelo, Ake, Dias, Wilson-Esbrand, De Bruyne, Rodri, Silva, Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish
Subs used: Walker, Phillips, Alvarez, Palmer, Lewis
For more from Jamie Spencer, follow him on Twitter and Facebook!