MANCHESTER: Erling Haaland took his Champions League goal tally to 39 in 34 games as Manchester City cruised into the last 16 with two games to spare by barely breaking sweat against Young Boys.

The Norwegian striker shrugged off the ankle injury that forced him off at half-time in Saturday’s hammering of Bournemouth to clinically convert a 23rd-minute penalty after Sandro Lauper had fouled Matheus Nunes.

He then smashed home a second from the edge of the area six minutes after the restart, shortly before Lauper was sent off for a second booking following a foul on Nathan Ake.

Phil Foden added a second, finding the net after ollecting Jack Grealish’s superb curling pass to the side of the penalty area and skipping past Ulisses Garcia.

The result sent City into the knockout phase for an 11th consecutive season with an English club record 18 matches unbeaten in Europe.

The win also extended their run of home victories in all competitions in 2023 to 23 games, one short of the English record, set by Sunderland across 1891 and 1892.

Newcastle beaten

Fellow Premier League contenders Newcastle lost to in Group F to Borussia Dortmund.
scored once in each half to beat Newcastle United 2-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday and provisionally take over the lead in Group F with two games remaining.

Germany forward Niclas Fuellkrug drilled in from close range in the 26th minute for his first goal in the competition and Julian Brandt added another on the break in the 79th to kill off the game and dent Newcastle’s chances of a top-two finish.

The result lifted Dortmund, who have beaten the Magpies in both their group matches, to seven points in top spot. Newcastle have four while AC Milan, on two points, host Paris St Germain, who have six, later on Tuesday.

Dortmund coach Edin Terzicsaid: “It was very deserved with a great team performance. We owed the fans something from Saturday.”

The hosts were brimming with confidence from the start, showing no effects of Saturday’s 4-0 home loss to Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich.

They were in control throughout, with the match briefly interrupted in the second half by fans throwing fake gold bars onto the pitch in protest at European governing body UEFA’s planned competition reforms.

Dortmund’s early pressure paid dividends when Fuellkrug combined well with Marcel Sabitzer and fired the ball left-footed into the roof of the Newcastle goal to give them a deserved lead.

They went close to another goal with a lightning-quick break while a Sabitzer shot flew over the bar a little later.

Newcastle, the first team to start eight English players in a Champions League game since Manchester United against FC Kosice in 1997, were missing key players through injury including Sven Botman, Alexander Isak, Harvey Barnes and Elliot Anderson.

But they came out fighting after the break, with the introduction of Anthony Gordon and Miguel Almiron adding pace to their game.

Joelinton missed their biggest chance in the 56th minute when his glancing header from a pin-point Tino Livramento cross whizzed wide.

Livramento’s performance was one of the few highlights for Eddie Howe’s team, with the 20-year-old making an outstanding competition debut.

Dortmund put the game to bed in the 79th when Karim Adeyemi found Brandt on the break and the Germany midfielder slotted in their second goal.

Celtic crash

Another British loss was suffered by Celtic who crashed 6-0 against Atletico in Madrid in Group E.
Antoine Griezmann and Alvaro Morata both struck twice to help their side thrash 10-man Celtic 6-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Griezmann opened the scoring in the sixth minute, slotting in a low shot from the edge of the box before Celtic were reduced to 10 men when forward Daizen Maeda received a straight red card for a studs-up challenge on Atletico defender Mario Hermoso in the 23rd minute.

Morata extended the hosts’ lead with a close-range finish in added time before the break and Griezmann scored the third with a brilliant volley in the 60th minute.

Substitute Samuel Lino netted the fourth with a fine curling strike into the top left corner six minutes later, before Morata blasted home an unstoppable strike from a rebound in the 76th minute and Saul Niguez wrapped up the scoring from close-range in the 85th.

Atletico went top in Group E on eight points with two games remaining, one point ahead of second-placed Lazio who beat Feyenoord 1-0 on Tuesday. The Dutch side are third on six points with Celtic bottom on one point.

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