Haaland returns to haunt Leeds in City win

London, Dec. 30: Erling Haaland lamented not scoring five times in the city of his birth as the Norwegian struck twice in Manchester City’s 3-1 win at Leeds to lift them back up to second in the Premier League.Haaland spent his early years in Yorkshire as his father Alfe Inge played for Leeds, but showed no mercy as City got their title challenge back on track.

Pep Guardiola’s men moved to within five points of Arsenal at the top of the table as they bounced back from a shock defeat to Brentford before the World Cup. Haaland now has 20 Premier League goals in just 14 appearances since joining City, but was still left unsatisfied after failing to beat Illan Meslier with three one-on-ones.

However, Leeds crucially failed to hold out until half-time on level terms as the visitors finally made their dominance count in first half stoppage time.Kevin De Bruyne opened up the Leeds defence for the opener and when Riyad Mahrez’s shot was parried by Meslier, Rodri swept the rebound into the net.

Grealish made some amends for his earlier misses by creating the second with a smart interception and unselfish pass for Haaland to roll into an empty net.The City star acknowledged his Leeds past by refusing to celebrate, but it did not stop him adding a second on the night from another Grealish cutback.

Leeds remain perilously poised just two points above the relegation zone, but did at least get a goal to show for their efforts when Pascal Struijk headed in from a corner 17 minutes from time. But a two-goal margin of victory was the very least City’s display deserved as they leapfrogged Newcastle into second in the table.

Mbappe delivers for PSG

Kylian Mbappe scored an injury-time penalty to seal a 2-1 win for Paris Saint-Germain over Strasbourg in Ligue 1 on Wednesday before admitting he will never get over France’s World Cup final defeat to Argentina.

PSG had Neymar sent off for two yellow cards as the Brazilian made an unhappy return to action following his country’s elimination in the World Cup quarter-finals. Captain Marquinhos had put the hosts ahead with an early header but the Brazilian defender scored an own goal after 51 minutes as some of PSG’s stars appeared to be suffering a post-Qatar hangover.

Neymar picked up a yellow for a petulant flick in the face of a Strasbourg player and then earned another for a blatant dive in the penalty area just after the hour. Mbappe had been a constant menace for PSG but was unable to find the target with two clear-cut chances.

But deep into second-half injury time he was brought down in the penalty area and converted the winner from the spot in the  96th minute. After the game, Mbappe said of the World Cup defeat: “I think I’m never going to  get over it. “As I said to my teammates, there is no reason why the club should pay the price for the failure of the national team, they are two very different situations,” he added. (AFP)