Haaland nets landmark goal as City beat 10-man Napoli in Champions League

MANCHESTER, England : Manchester City's prolific striker Erling Haaland bagged a record-breaking goal as Pep Guardiola's side kicked off their Champions League campaign with a dominant 2-0 victory over 10-man Napoli on Thursday.

Haaland became the quickest player in Champions League history to hit 50 goals in what was his 49th appearance in Europe's elite competition when he cleverly headed home Phil Foden's perfectly-placed flick in the 56th minute.

Jeremy Doku doubled City's lead in the 65th when he turned quickly and darted past two defenders before slotting the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic from a tight angle.

Serie A leaders Napoli were reduced to 10 men in the 21st minute when captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo was shown a straight red card for his last-ditch tackle on Haaland.

That spoiled the return of former longtime City captain Kevin De Bruyne, whose night was cut short after 25 minutes as Antonio Conte shuffled his team to adjust for the sending off.

City had the ball glued to their feet for most of the night and attacked in waves as Conte's men defended for their lives and Milinkovic-Savic was kept on his toes with City taking 23 shots to Napoli's one.

Guardiola summed up City's night by saying: "A really, really good performance against a team, the culture, the DNA of the Italian teams, how they are able to stay when 10 men, defend every ball, defend every block, and defend the shots, the crosses, how aggressive they are, how strong their mentality."

HAALAND FASTEST TO 50 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GOALS

One of City's best chances resulted in a diving save on the line from Milinkovic-Savic to prevent a near own-goal from Matteo Politano seconds before halftime.

Haaland had a couple of near-misses before