Dogged Man City banish ghosts of the Dragao as Erling Haaland brace sees off stubborn Porto in ill-tempered 2-0 win after security had to 'separate' players in tunnel - JACK GAUGHAN

Ghosts of the Dragao were whispering. Whispering about holding midfielders and overthinking, whispering about Kai Havertz and gaping defences, whispering about throwing away matches that Manchester City had dominated.

The circumstances around the 2021 Champions League final in this very stadium still haunt those of a City persuasion but not the squad. How can they? Only Phil Foden and Ruben Dias are left from that defeat by Chelsea, a Covid final in front of half a ground and when travelling City supporters were drowsy from the drink in the baking sun down by the River Douro. Drowsier still afterwards.

Past glories and past failures cannot be on Enzo Maresca’s agenda, carving a fresh team with a tweaked identity, although starting a teenager in Ayyoub Bouaddi instead of the more seasoned Elliot Anderson could easily have become a nod to Pep Guardiola’s infamous decision to not operate with a conventional No 6 against Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea.

As it was, Bouaddi excelled, City making sure this continental campaign started positively through Erling Haaland’s double. They had authority, wasting a glut of chances before doing enough in the sort of feverish atmosphere where away fans simply could not be heard and one that could have seen a young team wilt.

It is four victories from four to start the Maresca reign. They search for complete performances that will doubtless come with more time. Winning while learning is no bad thing at all, with the style becoming more distinctive.

So insistent on penning Porto in, Matheus Nunes spent much of his evening pressing on the edge of the opposition’s box. That is all perfectly understandable until realising that he was the right back. At one point from a free kick on halfway, Maresca appeared to be asking Nunes to leave his station and push forward, making sure Marc Guehi came over to cover. They went man-to-man constantly, Ayyoub Bouaddi asked to fill in as Nunes gallivanted. It’s high risk and high reward. If nothing else, this new City team will not die wondering.

Given the bounty of opportunities that were fashioned before half time, Maresca will rightly believe that this alteration to the set club style has started very nicely indeed. Three times Haaland found himself guilty of missing big chances. A truly confident Foden in full flight would have netted another, created by Rayan Cherki, with the Frenchman also coming up against an inspired Diogo Costa.

Costa had produced a fine double save from Haaland and Cherki, manufactured down City’s right and a product of Nunes being located so far forward with quality link up involving Foden. There were moments when possession could have been progressed quicker, especially in the middle of the park when a Porto ravaged by injuries were discombobulated – Enzo Fernandez and Cherki guilty of playing one too many passes - but to have been that dominant in a first European outing away from the Etihad must act as encouragement.

This method of playing spins on an axis. Mostly that will be anchored by Anderson, whose first weeks in City blue have drawn copious praise, yet Bouaddi’s introduction – a full debut – points to how Maresca may want to manage this squad.

In coming from Lille for £85million, Bouaddi was not cheap. His talent is unquestioned. He’s played in the Champions League before and dazzled for Morocco at the World Cup. Yet despite all that pedigree, he is still only 18 and to be thrown in shows a degree of faith not always obvious at the very highest level.

His positional understanding looked smart enough for the demands placed upon a sitting midfielder with a right back acting as a forward. His ability in tight spaces is well suited to City, that is obvious, but the breaking up of play and turning Porto around was something perhaps more surprising. One bit of screening and stopping Pepe from darting towards goal when City were out of position felt mature beyond his years.

Maturity was generally in short supply, though, with tensions high and both teams embroiled in a flashpoint at the break. Guehi had clattered into Gabriel Veiga – somebody who City had watched before – and Porto raged for the harshest punishment. It continued after Szymon Marciniak blew for half time, tempers on the pitch (Fernandez close to the scene, of course) and with the temporary tunnel shaking as both sets of players went to their dressing rooms, as if a skirmish had ensued. Coaches watched on from the outside before entering once it settled down, with eyewitnesses claiming that security had to separate players.

Porto might have wanted some of that. Francesco Farioli has a burgeoning reputation among the European coaching fraternity and, at 37, will go on to bigger things than the Portuguese league, but was hampered here by some of his more talented assets being sidelined. They preyed on City, unsettled Josko Gvardiol on occasion, without truly worrying Gianluigi Donnarumma until Alberto Costa’s header wide from a corner.

Porto were already a goal down by that point, City ahead 94 seconds after the restart. Haaland finally produced when asked, becoming the club’s joint-third leading goalscorer when heading in a 166th. It owed much to the expanse of Maresca’s midfield, working possession from right to left until Cherki found Fernandez and Haaland obliged from the Argentine’s cross.

There was something in this for the hosts, though. William Gomes pounced upon an under-hit Anderson pass, charging down Donnarumma and that only just floating wide. Maresca had brought Anderson on to shore up the midfield, removing Cherki, as City looked to hold what they had and become the team to rely on breaks themselves. Foden might have wrapped it up and City reverted to a doggedness that even the best need, before Haaland stroked home a second in stoppage time.