Haaland demands City ruthlessness after late winner rescues Leipzig trip

Erling Haaland scored a late winner as Manchester City came from behind twice to beat RB Leipzig 3-2 in the Champions League, Sky Sports Football reported.

The Norwegian converted Elliot Anderson's low cross with his 13th touch of the match to settle a chaotic contest in Germany. Yahoo Sports placed the goal in the 78th minute, while the Guardian recorded the decisive moment a minute earlier.

City had led before half-time through Castello Lukeba's own goal, created by Nico O'Reilly's cross, only for Ridle Baku to beat Gianluigi Donnarumma at his near post. Enzo Fernandez then headed City back ahead in the 57th minute, but Antonio Nusa levelled again just three minutes later, setting up Haaland's intervention.

Rayan Cherki struck a post for City late on as Maresca's team pushed for a cushion that never arrived.

The win moved City up to seventh in the table. It arrived after the Premier League visitors had travelled to Germany on the back of consecutive league defeats and a Carabao Cup shootout win over Brighton.

Haaland's goal took his career tally against Leipzig to 13 in nine appearances, which Opta data cited by Yahoo Sports describes as his highest return against any single opponent in Europe's top five leagues.

Speaking to TNT Sports afterwards, Haaland said he was satisfied to have been the difference but frustrated his side did not put the game to bed sooner. "The most important is that I helped the team to win, and I managed to do that today, so I'm super happy," he said.

He added that City needed more urgency once ahead: "I think in the end, we need to step up a little bit because I think when we were 1-0 up, I think we need to push forward a bit more to go at it, to go for the second and then hopefully go for the third. That's what we have to do as a club, we have to work on that."

Asked what specifically needed to improve, Haaland said: "I think keep the ball, when to keep it, when to go, and working together, both offensively, defensively, loads of different things. That's a good part, you can always get better, and there's always a new chance in a new game in three days, so that's lovely."

The striker was also pressed on having few touches before his decisive strike. "You can look at it that is difficult to keep concentrated for around 100 minutes, or you can look at it in a positive way that it's only 100 minutes that you have to fully focus to hopefully be ready when the chance comes. You can look at it in a few different ways, and I look at it in the second option," he said.

City now turn to a trip to Nottingham Forest this weekend as they attempt to halt a two-match domestic losing run. Yahoo Sports noted that victory at the City Ground would help restore momentum before the international break, after Leipzig twice pulled City level.