While his teammates were taking the lucky penalty shootout, Haaland stood outside, his arms around the shoulders of other reserve players, constantly shouting and encouraging, but after all, the Norwegian star collapsed on the field. , his head bowed as he watched Antonio Rudiger successfully execute his kick to send Real Madrid straight to the semi-finals of the Champions League. 

The heroic scene between the two biggest teams in Europe at the moment clearly must have the appearance of the most elite stars in Old Continent football, of which Haaland is a typical role model. 

And when the match reached its climax, a striker who won the title of top scorer in both the Premier League and the Champions League like Haaland had to speak up in the same way Jude Bellingham contributed to the opening goal in the Premier League . 12 minutes of Rodrygo Goes. And yet, the British star also ended his impressive performance at the Etihad with a brave penalty shootout, thereby making a great contribution to helping Los Blancos sink Man City right on their home shrine.

 Haaland completely faded away against Real. 

Things might have been different if Haaland had put the ball into the net instead of the crossbar with his close-range header in the first half. After 2 matches against Real, the 23-year-old striker had a total of 2 shots on target, losing the ball. 14 times, this number is even more than Haaland's number of accurate passes. There were 9 times the Norwegian star touched the ball in the White Vulture penalty area but not once was Haaland successful. 

After the match, Guardiola explained the reason for taking Haaland off the field: "He couldn't make an impact in the penalty area." 

Perhaps the 23-year-old player's declining physical strength is also one of the reasons Guardiola accepted to go to the penalty shootout without the team's best penalty shooter. At this point, the question arises: "Why didn't the Spanish coach let Haaland rest in the victory against the 18th ranked Premier League team, Luton Town last weekend?" . 

It's hard to criticize Haaland for just one downhill match when the former Dortmund star scored 83 goals for The Citizens even though he hadn't finished his second season. Perhaps the magic that helped Haaland fly high in the previous campaign has been lost. The opposing defenders decode . 

 Rudiger is an unpleasant opponent for Haaland. 

Roy Keane said too much when he commented that the striker born in 2000 was only a second-class player. Haaland has always been an excellent striker but not a comprehensive football player. 

However, Haaland was clearly unhappy that he was on the sidelines in Man City's most important match of the season. In the last 4 encounters with Real, the Norwegian striker has not celebrated a goal once. Antonio Rudiger is really a difficult problem for Haaland. 

Before the confrontation, Man City held a ceremony to award the Golden Boot title to the striker born in 2000 because of his goal-scoring performance last season and that was also Haaland's best moment against Real. For a famous star, having to stand on the sidelines and watch his teammates fight in the hottest phase of the match is really a red flag for Haaland.