It was in that brief period before Phil Foden became the first player to complete a hat-trick in a Manchester derby for nine minutes when the majority at the Etihad Stadium started to do the Poznan. Joining in was a blond-haired man in his late forties. The bouncing Alf-Inge Haaland had already seen his son bring up his own treble by that point. Indeed, it was the third time already that Erling Haaland had scored as many goals for Manchester City in one game as his father did in his career.
City might not have required further evidence that Haaland is a phenomenon; the younger generation, that is, because the elder Haaland was a wholehearted but largely unexceptional midfield workhorse. They got it, anyway. Perhaps his two assists were more revelatory than his three goals. A perfectly curled cross for Foden’s second goal was Kevin De Bruyne-esque; the through ball for his third was the pass of a playmaker, not a target man. Now only three players have more assists than Haaland in the Premier League this season and two of them – De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva – are his teammates. It is part of the Guardiolaisation of a finisher.
