As Manchester City rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat RB Leipzig 3-2 on Tuesday, Erling Haaland became the club’s fastest player to reach 40 Champions League goals.
The defending champions were on course for their first European defeat at the Etihad since 2018 when Lois Openda scored twice in the first half, taking advantage of shambolic defending.
Haaland cut City’s deficit before goals from Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez sealed first place in Group G.
Despite having already qualified for the last 16, Pep Guardiola chose a strong squad with the goal of winning the group.
However, the Catalan coach exited the tunnel at halftime, shaking his head at what he had witnessed from the European champions.
City dominated possession and territory, but were undone by two clumsy errors from the normally dependable Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias.
After Akanji let the in-form Openda latch onto a long ball from Leipzig custodian Janis Blaswich, the Belgian finished past Stefan Ortega.
Haaland squandered a terrific chance to equalise as the Norwegian blasted over, and Rico Lewis was also offside with a clean sight of goal.
However, as City were camped in the Leipzig half, one more long ball took Guardiola’s men off guard, as Dias dived in and Openda sprinted clear to score his 13th goal of the season.
Guardiola reacted at halftime by substituting Nathan Ake for Dias.
But it wasn’t until two more alterations, the additions of Jeremy Doku and Alvarez, that the turnaround began.
On 54 minutes, Alvarez contributed to City’s first goal by feeding Foden, who played in Haaland to score his 40th Champions League goal in just 35 appearances.
20 minutes from time, Foden tapped home Josep Gvardiol’s pass from the edge of the box.
Leipzig believed they had retaken the lead when Fabio Carvalho, on loan from Liverpool, slid into the far corner, only to be flagged offside.
And City completed their comeback with a 27th win in their past 29 Champions League home games.
Doku found Foden on the byline, and his low cross was handled and completed by Alvarez for his fourth goal in four Champions League games this season.
Leipzig had already qualified for the knockout stages, but they now face the likes of Barcelona or Real Madrid.