Maresca: Haaland is complete — as player and family man

Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca has described Erling Haaland as a changed and complete person since becoming a father, ahead of City's Champions League opener at FC Porto on Tuesday.

Haaland has started the 2026/27 season in strong form, scoring three goals in the first three league games. He has also been named to City's four-person leadership group for the campaign.

"He's a man now, he's a dad," Maresca said at Monday's pre-match press conference in Portugal. "When he arrived here, he was not a dad. Now life has changed, the priority has completely changed because he is a dad."

Maresca worked closely with Haaland during Pep Guardiola's coaching staff in the Treble-winning 2022/23 season and offered a direct comparison. "I am happy for him — he was already top as a player and top as a boy. But now you can see that he is complete. A family man and still scoring goals. I am very happy for him."

City travelled to northern Portugal on Monday with a 22-man squad. Nico O'Reilly and Jeremy Doku were both absent after picking up fitness issues. O'Reilly withdrew from the starting eleven shortly before last Saturday's 1-0 win over Coventry with a back problem, while Doku sustained a calf injury during the Community Shield match against Arsenal last month.

Maresca offered a cautious update on both players' availability for Sunday's Manchester derby at Old Trafford. "Nico probably yes, Jeremy we're not sure yet, we need to wait," he said. "Jeremy got injured in the Community Shield. That's three weeks ago. But he's back — I don't know if available for the weekend but slowly, slowly he's coming back."

City's Champions League league phase campaign begins with Tuesday's away fixture at Porto, kick-off 20:00 UK time.