Manchester City (Man City) monster striker Erling Haaland (25), who scored the comeback goal against Real Madrid, said the absence of opposing ace Kylian Mbappé (27, Real Madrid) was psychologically helpful.
Haaland started in the sixth match of the 2025-2026 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League (UCL) league phase, held at Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid, Spain, on the 11th (Korean time), and led the team to a 2-1 victory over Real Madrid with a comeback penalty kick (PK).
Haaland fell after a physical battle with Antonio Rüdiger in the 43rd minute of the first half with the score tied 1-1. After a video assistant referee (VAR) review and on-field review, a penalty kick was awarded, and Haaland, who took the kick, scored. That goal ended up being the decisive winner.
After the match, Haaland told TNT Sports that playing away here is difficult. It was a game with many transitions. We could have scored one more. In the second half I did, and Jeremy (Doku) also nearly scored a few times.
He added, The game was somewhat chaotic. It was difficult that we could not completely control it, and coming here is a difficult task. So in the end we are "super happy."
He also said, Because we lost to Leverkusen, if we had not won today the situation could have been completely different. So this victory is really important, and Now there are two matches left and we must finish strongly. We must finish inside the top eight to advance, he made the clear objective clear.
Regarding facing Raúl Asensio (22) and Antonio Rüdiger (32) during the match, Haaland said, Asensio kept pushing in and tried to engage me physically. I like that.
He added, Rüdiger was like that too. We have had many great battles, but Today he seemed to want it a bit too much. He grabbed and pulled me. So to me it was an obvious penalty, he explained.
In particular, regarding Real's ace Kylian Mbappé (27) being absent, Haaland said, We know about their injuries. We also have some injured players, but they have many injured players, and Nobody wants anyone to get injured, but I expected Mbappé to play.
He continued, I thought I would face Mbappé, so if a player like Mbappé does not play, I'm not happy because I want to face the best players. But it gives us a bit of a "psychological advantage," he admitted frankly.
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