Erling Haaland's Man City 'decision' explained by late Real Madrid winner

As has been widely reported for months now, Manchester City and Real Madrid are expected to be the two frontrunners in the race to sign Erling Haaland in the summer.

The Borussia Dortmund striker is one of the best goalscorers in the world and, while any team would want him, City and their Spanish rivals appear to be the two most likely suitors.

However, in recent days various sources in Spain have reported that Los Blancos will pull out of the race as they have decided to make soon-to-be free agent Kylian Mbappe their main attacking signing this summer.

That would leave City as favourites to sign Haaland, a player Pep Guardiola has been keen on for some time.

Of course, Haaland's future is still yet to be decided, but events in La Liga over the weekend suggest that if Haaland wants to join the best team in Europe, the Etihad Stadium would be a better new home than the Santiago Bernabeu.

Real Madrid rallied to a 1-0 home win against strugglers Granada on Sunday evening, a result that put Carlo Ancelotti's side six points clear at the top of the table.

While the home side dominated the latter stages of the contest, for much of the evening they looked blunt in front of goal. That is hardly surprising given that they were missing their two best attackers - Karim Benzema and Vinicius Jr - through injury and suspension respectively, but what is notable is how much they were affected by the absence of the pair.

Imagine a similar situation at City. It's perfectly feasible that both Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden miss the same game, or Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva. The difference with City is that nine times out of 10, they will play with the same intensity and sharpness with or without them.

That is because, unlike Real