Haaland Scores Twice as Man City Dominates Man United with 3-0 Win

Erling Haaland of Manchester City reacts after the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City in Manchester, Britain, 29 October 2023. (EPA)
Erling Haaland of Manchester City reacts after the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City in Manchester, Britain, 29 October 2023. (EPA)
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Haaland Scores Twice as Man City Dominates Man United with 3-0 Win

Erling Haaland of Manchester City reacts after the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City in Manchester, Britain, 29 October 2023. (EPA)
Erling Haaland of Manchester City reacts after the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City in Manchester, Britain, 29 October 2023. (EPA)

Erling Haaland scored twice and set up another goal as Manchester City beat Manchester United 3-0 in the Premier League on Sunday to again showcase the gap between the teams.

Defending champion City put in a dominant performance at Old Trafford in the 191st Manchester derby to add to the growing pressure on United manager Erik ten Hag.

This was United's seventh loss of the season in all competitions and leaves it 11 points adrift of leader Tottenham in the league.

City's win moved it within two points of the top of the standings.

Haaland scored a first-half penalty and doubled the visitors' lead with a header shortly after halftime.

He then provided the cross for Phil Foden to complete the scoring and prompt United fans to leave the stadium early.

Haaland has now scored 13 goals in all competitions this season and might have had more if not for the efforts of United goalkeeper Andre Onana, who produced a number of saves to keep City at bay.

City went ahead in the 26th minute from the penalty spot after referee Paul Tierney reviewed a pull by Rasmus Hojlund on Rodri in the box.

Haaland stepped up and sent Onana the wrong way by firing low to the right.

By then Onana had already denied Foden from scoring with a header and then scrambled the ball away from Haaland before he could convert the rebound. The goalkeeper also pushed away Jack Grealish's low, curling shot from outside the area.

United threatened on the break, but failed to make the most of promising openings for Scott McTominay and twice for Hojlund.

In first-half stoppage time McTominay came closest to finding a goal for United with a spinning shot on the edge of the box that was blocked by Ederson.

Haaland then nearly doubled City's lead with a close-range header that forced an acrobatic save from Onana.

He didn't have to wait long for his second, which came four minutes after the break with a powerful header from Bernardo Silva's cross.

Rashford raced beyond City's defense in search of a goal to pull United back into the game, but fired narrowly wide from an angle.

Onana then denied Haaland a hat-trick goal when one-on-one with the striker.

Haaland turned provider in the 80th when squaring for Foden to score from close range.

Before kickoff both teams had come together to commemorate United great Bobby Charlton, who died earlier this month. Past players from both sides of the city entered the field to join in a moment of applause.

In one stand United fans were invited to raise white paper that read out “Sir Bobby” in giant lettering. Elsewhere a huge banner was unfurled with a picture of him lifting the European Cup trophy in 1968.



Alysa Liu Delivers the US Its First Women’s Figure Skating World Championship in Nearly 2 Decades

Figure Skating - ISU World Championships - TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, US - March 28, 2025 Gold medallist Alysa Liu of the US celebrates with her medal after winning the Women’s Figure Skating World Championships. (Reuters)
Figure Skating - ISU World Championships - TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, US - March 28, 2025 Gold medallist Alysa Liu of the US celebrates with her medal after winning the Women’s Figure Skating World Championships. (Reuters)
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Alysa Liu Delivers the US Its First Women’s Figure Skating World Championship in Nearly 2 Decades

Figure Skating - ISU World Championships - TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, US - March 28, 2025 Gold medallist Alysa Liu of the US celebrates with her medal after winning the Women’s Figure Skating World Championships. (Reuters)
Figure Skating - ISU World Championships - TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, US - March 28, 2025 Gold medallist Alysa Liu of the US celebrates with her medal after winning the Women’s Figure Skating World Championships. (Reuters)

Alysa Liu skated around the ice in disbelief, her golden dress shimmering in the lights of TD Garden, and the appreciative roar from a sellout crowd reminded her why she had returned to the sport following a nearly two-year retirement.

When her score was finally read, the 19-year-old from Clovis, California, had made history.

Liu became the first American women’s figure skating world champion in nearly two decades, dethroning three-time defending champ Kaori Sakamoto with a brilliant free skate Friday night. Her program to a rendition of "MacArthur Park" by Boston native Donna Summer earned her a standing ovation, and allowed Liu to finish with 222.97 points.

"I mean, it means so much to me and everything I've been through," Liu said. "My last skating experience, my time away and this time around — I'm so happy, I guess. I'm mostly glad I could put out two of my best performances."

Liu's coaches, Phillip DiGuglielmo and Massimo Scali, pulled her into a hug in the kiss-and-cry area of the arena. Moments later, Sakamoto came over from where she had watched in the leader's chair and squeezed her tightly, as if Japan’s hero was passing Liu the torch as the first world champion from the US since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium in 2006.

Sakamoto finished with 217.98 points to add a silver medal to her three previous golds. Her Japanese teammate, Mone Chiba, was third with 215.24 points while Isabeau Levito and Amber Glenn gave the Americans three of the top five.

"We are all so strong," Levito said, "and we are all such fighters, and we all have our strengths, and are so different but we’re all so sweet with each other. I’m just so glad these are my fellow Team USA skaters."

Liu was once considered the sport's rising star, the youngest-ever US champ when she triumphed at the age of 13 in 2019, and then defended her title the following year. She fulfilled a childhood ambition by qualifying for the Olympics, finishing sixth at the 2022 Beijing Games, and earned a bronze medal at the world championships that year.

Then she stepped away. Liu decided that skating had become less of joy and more of a job, and she wanted to focus on being a normal college student. It wasn't until she went on a ski trip and felt the rush of competition — albeit in a much different way, and with far lower stakes — that she began to think about a comeback.

Early last year, she made it official with a cryptic posting on social media. And while the path back in a notoriously fickle sport was bumpy, to be sure, Liu took a big step forward with her second-place finish to Glenn at the US championships.

She took the last step up on the podium Friday night.

"Not every yesterday, I didn't expect this. I didn't have expectations coming in," Liu said. "I never have expectations coming into competitions anymore. It's more so, ‘What can I put out performance-wise?’ I really met my expectations on my part."

She left Sakamoto, the erstwhile champion, with feelings of awe and admiration.

"She went away and now she's back, and the world champion," Sakamoto said. "I wouldn't say she's changed. Her cheerfulness and kindness and the way she's always happy brought her to the top step of the podium."

Earlier in the night, American ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates built a big cushion as they chase their third consecutive title, scoring a season-best 90.18 points for their rhythm dance to lead Canadian rivals Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.

Gilles and Poirier scored 86.44 points to their dance, set to music from The Beach Boys. They held the lead only long enough for the US duo to finish their "tour of the decades" program, which earned them a raucous ovation inside TD Garden.

The International Skating Union chose the theme this season of social dances and styles of the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. But while some skaters picked one — the Watusi, the Madison or disco — Chock and Bates threw it all into their rollicking showcase.

"It was probably the most fun I've had thus far on competitive ice in a performance, maybe ever," Chock said. "It was really a joy to perform in front of a home crowd and share that excitement with Evan. It was the best."

Now, Chock and Bates will try to finish off the first three-peat since Russia's Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov in the 1990s.

"That’s a tough amount of points to catch up on," Poirier admitted, "but we also know that sport is really unpredictable."