There were an unusually large number of people in England who actually cheered for a French team in Wednesday’s Champions League match between Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain. The confirmation that the sky blues had been cheating for years was of course the reason.
The club’s biggest star Erling Haaland “broke” an unusual Enzo Maresca rule during Manchester City’s 2-4 loss to Paris Saint-Germain.
Erling Haaland delivered two goals without it helping! – Record! No one has scored more goals for Manchester City in the Champions League.
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Haaland and his City teammates experienced a nightmarish first half against the reigning European champions, with Désiré Doué, Ousmane Dembélé and Vitinha all scoring for Luis Enrique’s formidable team.
Maresca made three substitutions at half-time, taking out Jérémy Doku, Rayan Cherki and captain Rúben Dias in favour of Iliman Ndiaye, Ayyoub Bouaddi and Matheus Nunes.
City then improved. Haaland responded with two goals, but it was not enough to avoid defeat in front of former boss Pep Guardiola, who watched the game from the stands at the Etihad Stadium.
PSG scored one more goal through Maghnes Akliouche and could have made it 5-2 before the playoffs if Ferran Torres had put a late penalty past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Haaland “broke” the Maresca rule
Haaland’s two goals at least restored some of the glory to the Premier League leaders.
But The Mirror explains how Haaland broke a long-standing Maresca rule in the process.
The world-class striker was surprisingly given the captain’s armband after Dias was substituted at half-time.
Why surprising? In August, shortly after joining Man City, Maresca told reporters why the Norwegian could not be his captain.
He explained at the time: “At Leicester and Chelsea, I had a rule that when we scored, the captain had to come to the bench – not to celebrate, but for instructions. But if he scores, he can celebrate.
“If Erling is captain, we have a problem, can you imagine?
“If you watched the game [against K-League XI], when we scored the first goal, Rúben [Dias] came over to the bench.
“I think even if it’s just two or three minutes, there’s always something to adjust.”
Instead of going to the bench to discuss tactical adjustments, Haaland celebrated his first goal – before having a brief conversation with Joško Gvardiol on his way back to his own half.
After scoring his second goal, which made the score 4-2, he simply ran back to the halfway line.
But the fact that City were down at the time and desperately needed more goals means that Haaland was perhaps exempt from Maresca’s unorthodox rule.
The Mirror adds: “Although it is not covered specifically, Maresca almost certainly believed that the rule largely applies when City score first or increase the lead, and the celebration lasts longer than Haaland’s two against PSG.”
City will now focus on recovering from Wednesday’s defeat to PSG by maintaining their perfect start to the 2026/27 season with another league win over Ipswich Town at the weekend.
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