THE big guy is back – and in the nick of time.
Manchester City fans were starting to worry that Erling Haaland had overdone it over the festive period.
He had scored only once in eight matches since Christmas and even that was a penalty.
Yet did anyone seriously doubt him? When his team needed him to step up, the Norwegian answered the call.
His expertly taken opening goal in the 11th minute gave Pep Guardiola’s men the perfect start and they never looked back.
Rayan Cherki added a second just before the half-hour as City got the win they needed to secure a top-eight finish – and an automatic qualification for the last 16.
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How big could that be for their season as they chase glory on four fronts over the next four months?
They will have a couple of free midweeks next month to put their feet up – and maybe get some players back fit.
City started the night out of the top eight following their shock defeat at Bodo/Glimt last week.
Their task was simple – win the game and then hope a couple of other results would go their way elsewhere around Europe.
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Nobody at the Etihad will need reminding that they scrambled into the play-offs on the final day of the league stage last year – only to be paired with their old foes Real Madrid and soundly beaten.
While the league table suggested their path would be easier this time, a top-eight finish would be a much preferable outcome.
Meanwhile Galatasaray needed something from this to ensure their own place in the play-offs and their boisterous fans had travelled in their thousands.
City though started like they meant business.
Rayan Ait-Nouri’s delicious cross from the left found an unmarked Haaland but he planted his header wide of the post with the goal at his mercy.
Nobody could quite believe he had missed it. But just when it looked like his golden touch had deserted him, he found it again in the 11th minute.
Jeremy Doku slid a superb pass through the middle and Haaland got the wrong side of Abdulkarim Bardakci and clipped perfectly over the advancing keeper Ugarcan Cakir.
You could say he made it look easy – and we haven’t said that very often since Christmas.
That made it 40 goals this season for club and country 27 of them for City – it seems strange to be talking about a goal drought.
Despite being without new boys Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi as well as suspended former Ballon D’Or winner Rodri, City were in control.
Doku saw another effort blocked while Nico O’Reilly – playing in a more familiar central midfield role, stung the fingertips of Cakir.
A second goal looked to be coming and it arrived just before the half-hour as Doku twisted and turned past his man again on the left.
He rolled it into Cherki who had found himself a yard of space inside the box and he took a a touch before thumping a low shot into the corner.
The French playmaker is making a habit of popping up with big goals having grabbed one at Newcastle in the Carabao Cup earlier this month.
You get the feeling there is so much more to come from the 22-year-old former Lyon man if he sticks around in the Prem.
Doku was absolutely flying so it was a big blow for City when he fell awkwardly under a challenge from former Spurs defender Davinson Sanchez and could not continue.
His replacement Phil Foden could have helped himself to a goal before the break but skied his effort over the bar after more good work from Ait-Nouri.
Even so, apart from the injury to Doku, it could not have been a much better first half for City – with results elsewhere going their way.
Two of Pep’s old favourites – Ilkay Gundogan and Leroy Sane – had been unable to make much of an impact against their former club.
Meanwhile Victor Osimhen, who has been linked with a move across town to United so many times, was kept under wraps by City’s patched-up defence.
The Nigerian is a livewire for sure but in terms of pace he could not get the better of City’s rapid Uzbek international Abdukodir Khusanov.
Early in the second half the former Rennes defender got a crucial header in to deny Osimhen from pulling one back.
Then Gianluigi Donnarumma was called into action – pushing away an acrobatic volley by the former Napoli forward.
But with the Turks pushing forward, there were always chances on the break and Foden’s cross was just inches away from the stretching Haaland.
Both teams knew that barring some amazing turnarounds elsewhere, they had achieved their objective for the night.
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