Arsenal fans delighted in Manchester City’s Champions League downfall as Erling Haaland endured a night to forget against Sporting Lisbon.
Pep Guardiola’s previously relentless winning machine has ground to a halt in recent weeks with last night’s 4-1 thrashing representing a third consecutive defeat.
Sporting, managed by soon-to-be Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim, recovered from the blow of conceding an early goal to record one of their best ever European results.
Inspired by hat-trick hero Viktor Gyokeres, the Portuguese side piled on the agony for Guardiola and gave Amorim the perfect farewell ahead of his impending switch to Old Trafford.
Haaland had the opportunity to get City back into the game with a second half penalty that would have reduced the deficit to a single goal, but his effort crashed against the crossbar and to safety.
Minutes later, Gyokores showed Haaland how it was done, burying his second spot kick of the night to put the result beyond doubt.
It hasn’t been a happy couple of weeks for Arsenal, but their supporters couldn’t hide their glee, watching a despondent looking Haaland contemplating the cost of his miss.
The Norwegian striker riled Arsenal fans during September’s 2-2 draw at the Etihad when he threw the ball at Gabriel Magalhaes’s head after John Stones scored a 97th minute equaliser, before he became embroiled in a brief post match altercation with Mikel Arteta.
‘Stay humble, eh!’ quipped Haaland whose only goals since that incident have come against Southampton, Sparta Prague and Slovan Bratislava.
‘Erling Haaland you dare disrespect my manager, how is karma treating you now?’ said one fan on X, eager to remind the City No.9 of his spat with Arteta.
‘Haaland told Arteta to be humble and now he has been humbled by Sporting and Gyokeres,’ said another delighted Gooner.
And another Arsenal fan added: ‘Since the stay humble eh remark to Mikel Arteta, Haaland’s performance has stalled.’
After the game, City stalwart Bernardo Silva admitted his side had fallen into a ‘dark place’.
‘It’s disappointing because we’re a bit in a dark place right now,’ the Portugal international told TNT Sports. ‘Everything looks to be going in the wrong way.
‘Even when we are playing well we don’t score our chances and we concede too easily.
‘We definitely need to look inside and check what we’re not doing well, and we need to get better very quickly otherwise it will be very difficult to come back from these losses.’
Guardiola, meanwhile, had a more optimistic outlook and insisted he was relishing the challenge of bouncing back.
The City boss, who takes his side to Brighton on Saturday, said: ‘I don’t agree with him. We are not in the dark side.
‘We played really bad against Bournemouth but really good here. The only regret is conceding the third and fourth – the penalties were not necessary.
‘We knew it would be a tough season at the start and this is what it is. I like it, I love it, I want to face it and lift my players. Life is like this. We continue.
‘What should we do? We go back to Manchester and prepare for the game at Brighton. I won’t give up, that’s for sure.’
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