ERLING HAALAND passed another Champions League milestone – as he left Sergio Aguero trailing in his rear view mirror.
The Norwegian forward latched onto a lovely through ball from Rico Lewis and finished with the minimum of fuss just before the hour.
That was a 42nd goal in just 41 appearances in a competition that the £51.4million admits he loves playing in.
That takes him past City’s all-time leading scorer Aguero’s tally in Uefa’s most presitigious tournament – and don’t forget Haaland is still only 24.
He was subbed a few minutes later and might have felt slightly annoyed with Pep Guardiola – as there were more goals in this one for him.
This was little more than a training exercise for the English champs against the Slovakian rookies – and the only surprise was they only scored four.
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But after a draw in their first European game against Inter two weeks ago, they are well and truly up and running now.
Bratislava had played eight games just to reach the league stage of the competition – and on their opening night a fortnight ago they were thumped 5-1 by Celtic in Glasgow.
Yet they were thrilled to be welcoming the 2022/23 winners and all the star names to their home and were determined to enjoy the night.
It could even have got off to a fairytale start for the Slovaks.
Home skipper Vladimir Weiss jr – who came through the ranks at the Etihad and helped them win the FA Youth Cup – rolled the ball into the path of Marko Tolic.
His angled shot beat Stefan Ortega but drifted just wide of the far post. You got the feeling that was their moment and so it proved.
Premier League fathers and sons
Haaland and Phil Foden all went close in a lively opening spell – all before City took the lead in the eighth minute.
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Jeremy Doku cross found its way to fellow winger Savinho who saw his effort blocked but it bounced up nicely for Gundogan.
His volley from the edge of the box took a deflection off Kyriakos Savvidis leaving keeper Dominik Tavac with no chance.
Back in the armband and back scoring goals for Man City – it’s almost like the year at Barcelona never happened.
Doku was causing big problems down the right and he slipped a ball inside for Foden.
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The England ace took a touch before curling a low shot around the outstretched arm of Tavac from 15 yards.
Last season’s PFA Player of the Year has had a slow start to the current campaign – but has looked more like his old self in recent days.
This was shaping up to be another long night for the hosts but Tavac did well to dash out and save at the feet of Haaland.
Both Doku and Foden saw efforts come back off the post as City poured forward in search of more goals.
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And Gundogan made it a hat-trick of efforts off the woodwork as his long range effort smacked the crossbar.
It had been one of the most one-sided halves you will but for all their dominance, boss Pep Guardiola did not look impressed.
He said in the press conference before the game that the questions had the feel of a friendly – and maybe his players felt like that too.
Or perhaps it was just too easy for them. The second half started in a similar vein with Tavac denying Rico Lewis.
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Haaland – who cut a slightly frustrated figure after barely touching the ball first half – headed a decent chance over after a cross by Matheus Nunes.
Yet he didn’t have to wait long for his goal. Lewis played a ball straight through the home defence to send the Norwegian racing clear.
He went round Tavac with the minimum of fuss before scoring in an empty net.
As well as beating Aguero’s total, it also put him 18th in the list of all time Champions League goalscorers – level with Alessandro del Piero.
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He was subbed a couple of minutes later but at least that gave the man who replaced him – academy product James McAtee – the chance for a special moment.
The former Sheffield United loanee took a pass from Foden and showed some nifty footwork before scoring his first goal for his boyhood club.
With two balls to go, South Africa needed 38 runs to win the Women’s T20 World Cup. New Zealand’s hands were all-but on the trophy and their legendary captain Sophie Devine looked to the sky in a brave attempt to fight back tears.
And when the victory was confirmed, Suzie Bates, her international team-mate since 2006, leapt into her arms in an overload of emotions from joy, to disbelief, to pure ecstasy at a lifelong dream finally being achieved.
It was the crowning moment for 35-year-old Devine and Bates, 37, who have made a combined 624 appearances for their beloved White Ferns.
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For a pair who have seen it all, who have lived and breathed every single moment of New Zealand cricket’s highs and lows – back-to-back final defeats in 2009 and 2010, to the 10 consecutive losses leading into this tournament, all culminating in the most unlikely victory in their 18th year of international sport.
Neither had particularly eye-catching tournaments in terms of statistics, and by their own high standards, but cricket goes beyond numbers.
Bates’ experience at the top of the order allowed her 20-year-old partner Georgia Plimmer to express herself freely, both finishing at the team’s joint-highest run-scorers with 150 each.
Devine’s calming influence as captain and unwavering trust in her players allowed Melie Kerr to take a record-breaking 15 wickets in the campaign.
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With Bates’ and Devine’s glory comes an unforgettable moment for a country with a population of fewer than six million, where its best female athletes tend to opt for netball and rugby, where they are not blessed with a talent pool in the vein of Australia, India or England.
But the bigger picture for the women’s game goes beyond New Zealand’s story. Their victory offers hope for a sport that was becoming too predictable, such was Australia’s dominance in winning six of the past seven titles.
It has proven that the gap between Australia and the rest may not be as big as we once thought – but the game must not become complacent. It must be a turning point, not the endgame.
In a TikTok video, he boasted to his fishing partner — ITV4’s Monster Carp host Neil Spooner, with Phil: “It’s a big one!”
The midfielder, who played in City’s win yesterday, is a keen angler and plans to swap football for fishing when he retires.
After the Euros, Foden went on a £14-a-day angling holiday on the edge of the Cotswolds.
The £200,000-a-week Man City star snubbed exotic destinations popular with his Three Lions team-mates to spend five days with his dad fishing for carp, catfish, tench, pike and perch.
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An onlooker at Linear Fisheries in Witney, Oxfordshire, said: “Phil was happy as Larry camping out in a cheap tent,
“He was so down to earth and was just hell-bent on trying to land himself a carp as the lake has some absolutely enormous ones in it.
“While his England pals were living it up in posh hotels next to beaches, the most luxurious thing Phil had on his holiday was a Portaloo.”
Foden was winding down after the Euros ahead of rejoining the City squad preparing for the new season.
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He is an avid angler and has boasted about his big catches on Instagram.
Foden started fishing with his dad, Phil Senior, as a boy and said previously: “It’s the perfect hobby to rest your legs and have some down time.
Inside Phil Foden’s surprise love for fishing
“Probably about 95 per cent of the football lads don’t enjoy it.
“The odd one likes fishing, so when people find out they say: ‘what a weird sport to enjoy’.
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“They don’t understand why you enjoy it.
“Obviously, they need to go and try it.
“I think it’s the perfect hobby to rest your legs and have some down time.”
Foden has shared several of his top catches on social media from his trips to lakes across the UK and in Spain, which was the location of his biggest catch yet – a HUGE 130LB Catfish.
LAS VEGAS – Rob Font had his back against the wall entering UFC Fight Night 245, but the recent changes he’s made in his MMA career helped him get out of that situation.
Font (21-8 MMA, 11-7 UFC), 37, was coming off two consecutive losses and was 1-4 in his past five outings prior to Saturday’s co-main event bout at the UFC Apex. Defeating young, rising contender Kyler Phillips was a must, and that he did. Font’s unanimous decision win over Phillips (12-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) came at a much-needed time, and also a time of change.
“Yeah, losing two in a row, a new camp, you obviously hope you made the right decisions,” Font told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 245 post-fight press conference. “I put a lot of pressure on me. I want to win. I want to win, and I want to get as many wins as possible, and I want to look good doing it. I was to represent my family the right way. So yeah, there was a lot of pressure, but this is what we do, and this is what we want. We want those moments, and I’m not afraid of that.”
This was Font’s first fight under seasoned coach Firas Zahabi at Tristar, most notably the home of MMA legend Georges St-Pierre. Font believes the switch to Tristar was key to his career and will continue to train there for the foreseeable future.
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“It was a whole new camp and a whole new scenario,” Font said. “I was in Montreal basically all summer. I trained with all the guys out there. Firas has been a huge help in my career, and they took me in, and they opened up the red carpet for me, and I just want to give a shout-out back to everybody in Montreal.”
The announcement made at the Ferrari World Finals for its one-make challenge series at Imola followed news announced on Saturday that Fuoco and Molina had renewed their factory contracts for next year.
Calado and Pier Guidi were granted contract extensions this time last year.
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Coletta explained that there was no reason to make changes to the driver roster for the third campaign by the factory AF Corse team in the WEC.
“It is confirmed: #50 and #51 will not change – we will have the same drivers,” he said. “The #50 and #51 will be exactly the same.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
“We are happy with the line-ups: we have won with both at the Le Mans 24 Hours [with #51 in 2023 and #50 in ’24].”
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Coletta stressed the importance of “consistency and continuity” in terms of the drivers on its Hypercar squad.
“When we started with the 499P and chose our GT pilots some people were not happy,” he continued.
“But even the sceptics have had to change their minds. All six 499P drivers have won Le Mans, which I think validates our choices.”
There has been no confirmation of the drivers for the #83 satellite entry run by AF Corse on a customer basis and driven this year by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman
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Coletta outlined a hope to “announce it just before the Bahrain race” [this year’s WEC final on 2 November.
He ruled out Arthur Leclerc, brother of Ferrari F1 driver Charles, racing the car next year, even though he is scheduled to test one of the 499Ps in the WEC rookie test at Bahrain the day after the season finale.
Coletta explained that the younger of the Leclerc brothers, who is listed as a development driver for the F1 team, still needed to learn about sportscar racing.
He was placed by Ferrari for this year in the endurance segment of the Italian GT Championship, which he is contesting alongside his LMP2 commitments in the European Le Mans Series with Panis Racing.
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“Our goal is for Arthur to keep learning about endurance and then there might be the chance for him to catch an opportunity in one of our prototypes in the future,” said Coletta.
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