Haaland scored a hat-trick in Man City’s 4-2 victory over Chelsea in the Manchester team’s final friendly match in the US.
Man City and Chelsea had a friendly match in Ohio (USA). This is Man City’s last friendly match before returning to England to prepare for the Super Cup, against Man Utd on August 10, while Chelsea still has a match against Real Madrid (August 7), then they return to their home ground in London to play a friendly match against Inter Milan (August 11).
Haaland celebrates with teammates after scoring against Chelsea (Photo: Getty).
Guardiola’s side had a game in hand over Chelsea and won impressively 4-2, with Haaland scoring a hat-trick. Man City did not field their strongest squad, with a few young faces being named in the starting line-up, but they still easily overwhelmed Chelsea, who used a squad consisting mostly of first-team players.
In the second minute, Chelsea’s defense passed the ball wrongly in the penalty area and had to foul Haaland, leading to a penalty. The Norwegian striker successfully converted the 11m kick to open the score.
After the first goal, Chelsea’s defense was still not complacent. In the 5th minute, a Chelsea defender passed the ball wrongly near the penalty area, Haaland stole the ball and then rushed down to neatly finish past Sanchez, raising the score to 2-0.
In the remaining time of the match, Man City played better than Chelsea but did not have the chance to score a third goal despite creating many opportunities. Chelsea had few chances to score in the first half, most notably in the 42nd minute, Fernandez kicked the ball out even though the goal was empty, goalkeeper Ortega left the penalty area to clear the ball.
Man City outperformed Chelsea despite playing with a patchwork squad (Photo: Getty).
In the second half, Man City accelerated and immediately scored. In the 55th minute, Bobb received the ball on the right, penetrated the penalty area and shot into the near corner, leaving Sanchez standing still. A quick and hidden finish from the young striker on the Man City side brought the third goal.
Just one minute after the third goal, Man City had their fourth goal. Haaland received the ball at the edge of the penalty area, rushed down and neatly finished past Sanchez, raising the score to 4-0.
After conceding 4 goals, Chelsea finally woke up a little. In the 58th minute, Madueke attacked strongly on the right wing, he assisted Sterling to finish from the center of the penalty area and put the ball into the net, shortening the score to 1-4.
Man City were quite unlucky not to score a fifth goal, because in the following period, Guardiola’s team continued to dominate completely and they once hit the post and bounced out.
It wasn’t until the 89th minute that Chelsea scored their second goal. In a quick counter-attack, Madueke charged up the right and into the penalty area, finishing past Ortega to reduce the score to 2-4. This was also the final score of the match.