A composite image of Erling Haaland sliding on his knees in celebration and being involved in a confrontation with Porto's Pablo Rosario
Erling Haaland had to be dragged away from a heated incident during Manchester City's Champions League win over Porto.
Tensions boiled over in second-half stoppage time as Man City began their European campaign with a 2-0 win in Portugal thanks to a brace from Haaland.
Erling Haaland celebrates a goal against Porto4
Against Porto, Haaland scored his 59th Champions League goal, in 59 games - Lionel Messi needed 80 games to score 60
And the striker was at the centre of the flash point, clashing with Porto's Pablo Rosario and sparking a melee on the pitch.
Haaland was hurled to the ground by Rosario, with both players booked by referee Szymon Marciniak.
But talkSPORT's Adrian Durham wasn't impressed with the Porto man at all and took issue with Marciniak's officiating of the incident.
"Really naive refereeing," Durham said on air. "Rosario's basically trying to get Haaland sent off and it's a disgrace. Really poor refereeing, that."
It wasn't the first coming together of its nature on the night at the Estadio do Dragao.
Security staff had to step in as players and officials from both sides clashed at half time.
Porto had taken issue when Gabri Veiga was left bleeding from his head after being accidentally struck by Marc Guehi's trailing arm during an aerial challenge.
Guehi escaped any punishment – much to Porto's dismay – on a night which, perhaps surprisingly given how things flared up, saw only three players booked: Rosario, Haaland and his City teammate Josko Gvardiol.
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What did Enzo Maresca say?
“It was the complete performance on the ball and off the ball for 95 minutes,” the City boss said.
“We created enough chances to win the game in the first half and their goalkeeper was very good.
Gabri Veiga of Porto lies on the floor from a challenge from Man City's Marc Guehi4
A challenge that floored Veiga sparked angry scenes at half-time in a tunnel bust-up between the sides
Erling Haaland is pulled away from a clash with Porto's Pablo Rosario4
Haaland was pulled away from a scuffle with Rosario and the pair were booked at the end of the game
“We tried to continue in the second half in the same way.
“It’s game by game. It’s a different competition, different stadium but the most important thing is we show who we are.
“We try to be aggressive off the ball and on the ball try to plan how we can win the game.
“In terms of where we are, I don’t know. I can see game after game, the team is improving.”
Maresca added he was happy with the way his side coped with the physical nature of the contest.
“We know in these games, when you come here it’s difficult.
“That’s the way they grow up but it’s normal. We dealt with it very good.
“I watch games from the Portuguese league, especially now with Porto and Sporting. I watch different games and you can see the level is very high.
“Porto play very good, [Porto manager Francesco Farioli] is doing a fantastic job but we managed it and won the game.”
What milestone did Haaland achieve?
That late scuffle aside, it was a celebratory, historic occasion for Haaland.
In scoring his fourth and fifth goals of the season, and his 166th and 167th overall for City, he moved up to third on the club's all-time leading scorers list.
It represents a remarkable achievement for Haaland, who only moved to the Etihad Stadium four years ago but will be going for his fourth Premier League Golden Boot in five seasons in 2026/27.
Since arriving from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, he's gone along at a truly prolific average of 0.82 goals per game in all competitions.
An image showing the Champions League goals scored by Aguero and Haaland for Man City4
Against Porto, Haaland equalled Aguero's 36 Champions League goals for Man City
The 26-year-old now has only Eric Brook (177 goals) and Sergio Aguero (still well out in front on 260 goals) left to catch.
That being said, Haaland has already emulated Aguero in one respect, drawing level with him for the most Champions League goals for City with 36.
Haaland also goes clear of Bayern Munich legend Thomas Muller to take seventh place outright on the all-time list of leading Champions League scorers with 59 in total – at a remarkable average of exactly one a game.
For some comparison, it took Lionel Messi 80 Champions League appearances to reach 60 goals in the competition.
The Champions League continues
Elsewhere on the opening night of Champions League action, Aston Villa got their first win of the season, edging a 3-2 thriller against Club Brugge.
Two more English clubs are in action on Wednesday: Liverpool entertain Atletico Madrid and Arsenal travel to Napoli, amid travel chaos due to air traffic control issues in the UK.
Arsenal's game is live on talkSPORT 2, with Manchester United's home Champions League opener against Sabah on Thursday live on talkSPORT.