Erling Haaland Hits Worst Scoring Run in Years as Man City Collapse in Champions League

Erling Haaland is on a drought of eight games without scoring a non-penalty goal as Manchester City are beaten by Bodo/Glimt.

Erling Haaland’s frustration was written all over his face in the Arctic Circle.

Manchester City’s 3-1 defeat to Bodo/Glimt in the Champions League was damaging in its own right, but it also extended a personal drought that now stands out as a genuine anomaly in his career.

Aside from penalties, Haaland has now gone eight matches without scoring.

It is his longest run without a non-penalty goal in club football since a 13-game streak with Molde between September 2017 and April 2018, when he was still 17.

Erling Haaland goal drought

Haaland’s standards are obviously unforgiving. Even a short spell without goals feels magnified because of what we’ve got used to with this guy.

Eight games without a non-penalty goal would be a concern for most forwards, never mind for one as goal-driven as Haaland.

And it isn’t for the lack of trying. Against Bodo/Glimt, he worked, pressed and occupied defenders, often dragging two yellow shirts with him.

But chances were scarce. When one half-opening did arrive early on, Nikita Haikin gathered his curling effort with relative comfort.

Haaland said afterwards that he takes “full responsibility for not scoring the goals”, a line that carried less defiance and more resignation.

“I don’t have the answers,” he admitted, calling the defeat “embarrassing” and apologising directly to travelling supporters.

Player	Team	Games without a goal
Erling Haaland	Manchester City	8
Nick Woltemade	Newcastle	7
Dominic Calvert-Lewin	Leeds	4
Jean-Philippe Mateta	Crystal Palace	3
Ollie Watkins	Aston Villa	3
Hugo Ekitike	Liverpool	1
Danny Welbeck	Brighton	1
Igor Thiago	Brentford	1
Viktor Gyokeres	Arsenal	0
Benjamin Sesko	Manchester United	0
Joao Pedro	Chelsea	0

Selected Premier League strikers’ consecutive games without a non-penalty goal across all competitions, as of 21 January 2026.

When did Haaland last score?

Haaland last scored a goal in the 1-1 draw with Brighton on 7 January. He opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Kaoru Mitoma equalised for the visitors.

His last non-penalty goal was on 20 December, where he scored a brace in the 3-0 win against West Ham.

Manchester City loss to Bodo/Glimt

City were second best from the moment they lost control.

Kasper Hogh’s two goals in quick succession turned a calm opening into chaos, and Jens Petter Hauge’s superb third after the break underlined how far the game had slipped away.

Rayan Cherki’s strike offered some hope, but Rodri’s red card – two yellow cards in under a minute – ended any realistic chance of a comeback.

City finished with ten men, and the sense was that even eleven would not have been enough.

Pep Guardiola later described his side as “fragile”, pointing to missing players and fine margins going against them.

City were without 11 players through injury, suspension or ineligibility, but the wider issue was cohesion. Possession lacked bite, movement was flat, and Haaland spent long spells isolated.

Why isn’t Haaland scoring?

The striker’s drought has everything to do with City’s form. They have won only two of their last seven matches in all competitions, a run that includes a heavy Manchester derby defeat and now this humbling night in Norway.

In the Premier League, they are four without a win, which has left them seven points trailing behind Arsenal, who have an open-play creativity problem themselves.

Service into Haaland has dried up. Midfield control has been patchy, transitions slower, and wide areas less productive.

Against Bodo/Glimt’s aggressive, well-drilled press, City struggled to progress the ball quickly enough to create high-quality chances.

Haaland was often surrounded, forced to drop deeper than usual just to get involved. That can help the team, but it blunts the very thing City rely on him for most: ruthless finishing inside the box.

The striker’s struggles also highlight a recurring problem for Pep Guardiola’s side: Manchester City’s over-reliance on Erling Haaland.

Pep Guardiola concerns over Man City form

Guardiola insisted his team are not playing as badly as the results suggest but acknowledged they are vulnerable right now.

“Everything is going wrong in many details, and we have to try and change it, but the players are there,” he said, adding that City have been through similar spells before.

The defeat leaves City needing a result against Galatasaray in their final group game to ensure safe passage into the Champions League knockout stages. There is little room for another off night.

For Haaland, the goal drought might be mental as much as tactical. His last comparable drought came when he was a teenager still learning the game.

Now, at the peak of his powers, he finds himself leading a side searching for stability.

Goals will come. They always do with Haaland. But this stretch, capped by an “embarrassing” defeat in Norway, feels like a moment that will define how City respond to a season suddenly wobbling.