Erling Haaland scored an outrageous backheel volley in the Champions League on Wednesday to issue a timely reminder of his own credentials as a potential Ballon d'Or winner.
A day after Vinicius Junior hit a hat trick for Real Madrid, Haaland scored an early contender for goal of the season with his acrobatic effort in Manchester City's 5-0 win against Sparta Prague.
'He's a freak isn't he?" Phil Foden said after the match.
You can say that again.
Haaland's volley in the 58th minute at the Etihad Stadium was a moment of individual brilliance.
From around six metres and with his back to goal, the Norway striker leapt in the air and flicked the back of his foot to meet Savinho's cross from the right.
Connecting powerfully with his heel, the ball shot down into the turf and bounced high into the top corner beyond Prague goalkeeper Peter Vindahl.
"I saw it when the ball came in. It's unbelievable," City coach Pep Guardiola told TNT Sports.
"He's a statue. So tall and so flexible. I like it, he has this sense of humour.
"Very similar to the Dortmund one a few years ago. Unbelievable. I don't know which was more difficult, both very difficult.
"He had some chances but it's difficult. He is literally on the penalty spot with three defenders and two midfielders — he's always surrounded by five or six players. He's so fast too that's maybe why teams defend so deep."
Haaland scored again 10 minutes later to take his season's total to 13 goals in 12 games in all competitions.
His record in the Champions League is now 44 goals in 42 games.
"I'd probably pull my groin or something, trying that," Foden added.
"Not many people can score those goals … he's just different."
"I have praised him before the game and he's the world class player and maybe the best striker in the world," said Prague coach Lars Friis.
"He scored strange goals, he scored good goals, he scored with the head, with foot and now this, so [he's] world class. You just have to say he's difficult to cope with."
Foden had put the hosts ahead with less than three minutes gone, before Haaland's freak effort.
John Stones made it 3-0, Haaland grabbed his second and Matheus Nunes added more lustre to the emphatic win.
The win sees City set a new Champions League record of 26 games unbeaten.
They took that record, which stretches back before 1992 into the European Cup era, from their cross-town rivals, Manchester United.
Sir Alex Ferguson's United team from 2007/09 managed to stay unbeaten for 25 matches.
Great night for Premier League clubs
Elsewhere, Premier League leaders Liverpool moved level on points with Aston Villa at the top of the standings Wednesday by extending its perfect record to three wins.
Liverpool maintained its unbeaten start by edging Leipzig 1-0 with a first-half goal from Darwin Núñez.
"If we had left this place with a draw, I would have really felt we had lost something," Liverpool boss Arne Slot told TNT Sports.
"For the 70 previous minutes — except, maybe, for the first 10 — we dominated."
Arne Slot has guided Liverpool to first place in the Premier League early in his tenure as Jurgen Klopp's replacement and now has the team on a maximum nine points in the Champions League.
The latest win in Europe came at Leipzig, one of the clubs that Klopp will be overseeing in his new role as head of global soccer at Red Bull.
Leipzig is the only team from the big five leagues to lose its three opening matches.
At the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Montjuïc, Raphinha scored a hat trick as Barcelona finally beat Bayern Munich to end a series of six consecutive wins for the German team in their head-to-head meetings that included a humiliating 8-2 loss for Barca in the quarterfinals in 2020.
This time, Barcelona came out on top of an entertaining contest with a 4-1 statement win.
Brazilian star Raphinha opened the scoring inside a minute, before England's Harry Kane levelled, taking his personal tally in this year's competition to five goals in three games.
But Barcelona responded with one goal from former Bayern great Robert Lewandowski and two more from Raphinha, who was later substituted to a standing ovation.
It was Barcelona's first win over Bayern since the 2015 Champions League semifinals — the Catalan giants came into the game without having scored in its four games against Bayern since that 8-2 loss.
"It could have been a Champions League final. Winning like this, in front of our fans, is the best," Raphinha said. "What we are doing on the pitch answers what Barça can do in this Champions League."
After beating Real Madrid 1-0 in the previous round, Lille won 3-1 at Atletico, which was unbeaten in its last 11 home matches in the Champions League.
The French side had just three shots on target, including a penalty kick.
"We may not have played a great, great game, but we played the game we needed to tonight," Lille midfielder Benjamin André said.
Meanwhile, a superb goal from Pierre Lees-Melou helped minnows Brest to a 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen as both teams remained unbeaten.
Elsewhere, Celtic struggled but frustrated Atalanta with a 0-0 draw, with Mario Pašalic hit the woodwork for the Italian team.
Looking for a third consecutive win, Benfica lost 3-1 to Feyenoord, while substitute Marcus Thuram scored in stoppage time to help Inter Milan scrape a 1-0 win at Young Boys in Zurich.
After three rounds in the revamped tournament, Liverpool and Aston Villa have a two-point lead over seven clubs including Man City and another Premier League team, Arsenal.
The four English teams in the competition have conceded just one goal combined so far.
AP/ABC
