Champions League review: Foden finds form, Haaland scores again

Football writer Alex Keble reports on Wednesday's UEFA Champions League matches featuring Premier League clubs.

Foden back to his best, but the new Sterling and Sane should also excite fans

Manchester City 4-1 Borussia Dortmund

The curiously flat 2024/25 campaign that followed Phil Foden’s PFA Player of the Year-winning 2023/24 is fast becoming a distant memory. Foden is back.

Two beautiful goals helped Pep Guardiola’s Man City side sweep past a brittle Dortmund side at the Etihad, the first a gorgeous pass into the far corner in the 22nd minute and the second a genius use of space, Foden somehow finding room around three defenders to whip the ball past Gregor Kobel in the 57th minute.

Both were classic No 10 goals, manipulating space between the lines and making the difficult look very easy. Both were reminders that Foden is one of the most gifted players in Europe and still heir-apparent to Kevin De Bruyne.

"I'm loving [my football]," enthused Foden after the match. "I just need to play with a smile on my face, which I’m doing.

"Last year was tough, not just for me but for everyone. There’s a new togetherness this season. We stuck at the game plan and broke Dortmund down with our talent up front. That’s what we want to try and do."

Guardiola said of Foden: "He's back! He's very close to reaching his best level. It's not only Phil. After last season, we are back. Me as well."

The timing of Foden's performance is noteworthy, coming four days after Rayan Cherki assisted twice against AFC Bournemouth. Cherki also scored against Dortmund, Man City's fourth goal in the first minute of stoppage time, after Waldemar Anton had pulled one back for the German club in the 72nd minute.

Man City are still trying to find the next great Guardiola incarnation. This week we’ve seen two contenders for the De Bruyne role put their names forward.

City have never had a player like Erling Haaland, who, captaining the side for just the second time tonight, spanked one home in the 29th minute to make it 18 goals in 14 games for the club this season.

Haaland has now netted a total of 54 Champions League goals in just 52 matches, a phenomenal return that ranks him 10th in the competition's all-time top goalscorers.

All-time top Champions League goalscorers

Player Goals Cristiano Ronaldo 141 Lionel Messi 129 Robert Lewandowksi 105 Karim Benzema 90 Raul Gonzalez 71 Ruud van Nistelrooy 60 Kylian Mbappe 60 Andriy Shevchenko 59 Thomas Muller 57 Erling Haaland 54

The Norwegian is the first-ever player to score in five consecutive Champions League matches for three different clubs.

His goals in every game of this season's league phase follow the brace he netted in his final European appearance of last season, the first leg of Man City's 6-3 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid in the knockout phase play-offs.

Haaland also scored in five Champions League games in a row for his previous clubs Borussia Dortmund and Red Bull Salzburg.

Out wide, Savinho off the right and Jeremy Doku off the left were a nightmare for Dortmund, creating five chances and completing nine dribbles between them.

Foden said: "Playing with the likes of Jeremy [Doku] and Savinho, they like to attack quick, so I’d say this year we’re a little bit more direct. It’s about sticking together and picking the right times to attack."

Doku and Savinho's directness – and final ball – were reminiscent of the Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling partnership that defined City’s 100-points season in 2017/18.

Nobody is suggesting Man City will replicate that. But as the wins stack up – that’s six in the last seven now – this is starting to look like a typical Guardiola side as they head into their colossal next Premier League fixture, at home to Liverpool on Sunday.

Both teams are in the top eight of the Champions League table, as are their fellow Premier League clubs Arsenal and Newcastle United. Arsenal, in second place, are the only side who have won all four matches in the competition so far without conceding.

See: Man City match report and line-up

Maresca’s young side struggle to get control of frantic draw at Qarabag

Qarabag 2-2 Chelsea

A thrilling end-to-end game at the Tofik Bakhramov Stadium ended in a 2-2 draw but there could easily have been at least double the number of goals. Right up until the final whistle it was action packed and Enzo Maresca, crying out from the touchline for control and order, for slower football, never got his way.

Chelsea took the lead in the 16th minute courtesy of a low drive from Estevao - their best player and a constant menace from the right - but Qarabag turned the game around before half-time courtesy of two errors from Chelsea centre-back Jorrel Hato.

First, Hato was muscled off the ball on the edge of his own box by Leandro Andrade, who took the gift in the 29th minute, and then just 10 minutes later Hato conceded a penalty by handling in the area, which Marko Jankovic converted in the 39th minute.

Maresca sent on the cavalry at half-time, and in the 52nd minute one of the substitutes, Alejandro Garnacho, fired a shot into the far corner with his left foot, but – almost inconceivably, with the action never letting up – there were no further goals.

The Chelsea head coach will not be happy his players failed to play with composure, but perhaps that is to be expected of such a young and inexperienced team. Five players in the line-up at kick-off had two or fewer Premier League starts under their belts this season, and that was also true of two substitutes who came off the bench.

One was Hato, at fault for both goals, and another, Liam Delap, looked rusty as he squandered a couple of decent chances in the second half.

A third substitute, Andrey Santos, summed up the tactical and psychological issue with playing so many youngsters in a tricky Champions League away match. The defensive midfielder consistently over-committed to attack, abandoning his post and getting caught up in the excitement, helping to trigger a wildly open contest.

It leaves the Blues in the play-off spots at the halfway stage, with the Serie A champions Napoli and La Liga champions Barcelona still to play.

Maresca’s decision to rest key players backfired. It could come at the price of an extra two European matches in February.

In the meantime, Chelsea return to Premier League action with a home fixture they will be expected to win, against bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday night.

They will be without injured midfielder Romeo Lavia, who had to be taken off in the eighth minute and replaced by Moises Caicedo, the Premier League's Player of the Matchweek.

"It’s a great shame, especially for [Lavia]," said Maresca after the match. "He’s not able to be fit for a long period. It’s too early to understand what kind of injury [it is], but hopefully it’s not a big injury."

See: Chelsea match report and line-up

Another Dan Burn moment shows the power of St James' Park

Newcastle United 2-0 Athletic Club

There was no drama at St James' Park, not after Dan Burn’s sublime curling header – yes, curling header – had rippled around the net in the 11th minute.

Newcastle controlled the game up until the break and then, accelerating out of it, had their cushion goal within 186 seconds of the restart, a 49th-minute header from Joelinton securing the points to leave the Magpies sixth in the league-phase table.

It was the simplicity of the win, following last month’s 3-0 victory over Benfica, that made this game interesting.

Two years ago, Newcastle beat Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 in an early Champions League match - a game which featured an unforgettable Fabian Schar strike - but then fell to a 1-0 defeat to Dortmund and 2-1 defeat to AC Milan.

This time around, Eddie Howe’s side look ready to use the St James' Park atmosphere to their advantage.

The format of the league phase means Newcastle may only need to beat PSV Eindhoven at home and Marseille away to secure a top-eight finish, at which point they will back themselves to dominate the home leg of a second-round tie.

Howe said afterwards: "We've put ourselves in a strong position now after tonight's win, but there are still many challenges ahead."

Burn added: "We wanted to respond after the weekend's performance [when Newcastle lost 3-1 at West Ham]. I thought we played well, controlled large parts of the game. Athletic Club pressed really well, but we're happy with the three points."

With their passionate home crowd, who knows how far Newcastle can go. Next, though, they are back on the road with a trip to Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

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