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One of the great shames of this year’s FIFA World Cup is that Erling Haaland will be sunning his massive frame on a beach somewhere instead of terrorising the world’s best defenders.
The Manchester City sensation is the hottest footballer on the planet and continued his outrageous scoring spree with two first half goals in a 5-0 Champions League rout of Copenhagen.
The 195cm striker has now scored 19 goals in 12 games since joining City but won’t play in Qatar 2022 after Norway failed to qualify for the tournament.
Watch Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe in the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League, streaming ad-free, live and exclusive on Stan Sport
“I will probably sit on a beach somewhere, relaxing,” Haaland said recently when asked about his World Cup plans.
The former Borussia Dortmund frontman now has 28 goals in 22 Champions League games, overtaking greats Rivaldo and Luis Suarez at Etihad Stadium despite only being 22-years-old.
Respected football journalist Jonathan Wilson said Haaland – substituted at halftime against Copenhagen – was unique and completely unstoppable.
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“I don’t remember ever seeing a player like Haaland,” Wilson said on Stan Sport FC.
“To have that technical ability, that goalscoring ability and that physical power.
“Maybe Ronaldo, Brazilian Ronaldo, when he first came through or, if you go back and you read descriptions of Eduard Streltsov in the Soviet Union in the late 50s or Bernabe Ferreyra in Argentina in the mid-30s – these players are so physically – I don’t want to say freakish because that sort of sounds negative – but how do you stop someone that’s that quick and that big?
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“He’ll beat you in the physical battle but he’ll also beat you in the technical battle and he finishes first time. So what are you meant to do?
“If you sit deep against him, you put crosses in the box and he’ll win it. If you play high against him he’ll get in behind you and you just have to knock a ball past you and he’s through. So I just don’t remember ever seeing a player like that.”
In his only game for City in which he failed to score, Haaland made amends by providing an assist.
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Elsewhere, Paris Saint-Germain had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Benfica despite another well struck goal from Lionel Messi.
Benfica started with an intense and high press that unsettled PSG in the early stages, until Messi broke the deadlock against the run of the play with his 127th goal in Europe’s top competition.
The goal came after a move involving the entire “MNM” attacking trio as Messi combined with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar before curling in a first time shot with his left foot.
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Benfica leveled before halftime thanks to an own goal from Danilo Pereira.
PSG and Benfica both won their opening two matches in Group H and have seven points.
Juventus is in third place, four points off the pace, ahead of last placed Maccabi Haifa with zero.
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In Spain, defending champions Real Madrid beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 to take full control of Group F.
Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior scored a goal each in the first half as the defending champions cruised to a third straight victory in the European competition.
The result at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium gave Madrid a five point lead over Shakhtar, which started the match with 11 Ukrainian players.
It was Madrid’s seventh straight group stage win in the Champions League.
The hosts dominated from the start and finished with a total of 35 shot attempts, with 13 of them on target.
“The ball didn’t want to go in. It was a match to win 7-1, but sometimes it’s like that,” Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos said.
“It’s hard to believe it was only 2-1, but in the end we got the three points that we wanted.”
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