Before last week, Erling Haaland had both an awful record against Real Madrid and an excellent one. The Norwegian had failed to score against the Spanish giants in four matches, but at the same time, he had never lost a game against them, with Manchester City winning the Champions League 2022-23 semi-final tie 5-1 on aggregate but falling out of last year's quarter-finals on penalties following two draws.
The Norwegian finally broke his duck against Madrid last Tuesday by twice giving City the lead in the first leg of their knockout phase play-off. Yet paradoxically, Haaland's best individual performance against his bête noire coincided with City's worst collective display and another late collapse, leaving Pep Guardiola's side with it all to do if they are to turn the tie back in their favour and remain in Europe.
After brushing off an injury scare in City's last match against Newcastle, Haaland will be gunning for his first goal at Santiago Bernabeu now that his Madrid hoodoo is over. But the bad news is he will have to hurdle the colossal presence of Antonio Rudiger on the way...
