Champions League: Erling Haaland at the double as Manchester City thrash Copenhagen

Manchester City career as the English giants thrashed FC Copenhagen 5-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday. Haaland now has 19 goals in 11 competitive games for City and was denied the chance of a fourth hat-trick in five home games after being rested for the second half by Pep Guardiola. City were already 3-0 up at the break as the Norwegian twice swept home from close range before David Khocholava deflected Sergio Gomez's shot into his own net.

"I've never witnessed anything like it in my life," said City midfielder Jack Grealish on Haaland's scoring streak. "For the first and second goal I was just laughing. I was like, 'how?' He's just always there.

"Their keeper said to me: 'this guy - he's not human.'" Riyad Mahrez took advantage of Haaland's absence to score his first goal of the season from the penalty spot before Julian Alvarez rounded off the scoring. With maximum points from their opening three games, City are cruising towards the last 16 and can seal qualification with two games to spare should they win in the Danish capital in six days' time. Copenhagen are languishing in mid-table in their domestic league and in manager Jacob Neestrup's second game in charge came to the Etihad with damage limitation in mind.

But for Copenhagen goalkeeper Kamil Grabara, City could easily have surpassed the six goals they smashed past Manchester United on Sunday. "The reason we were consistent all these years is that after a derby and lots of compliments, we are able to play a Champions League game and play the way we played," said Guardiola. Haaland only had 11 touches before being replaced at the break, but four of them were shots on target.