Haaland heads City past Porto, then says an opponent grabbed him

"I was really keen on a hat-trick and it seemed like he was very eager to stop me from getting it," he said.

He then went further: "You'll be seeing a picture where he's grabbing my bottom. It'll be interesting to see that picture."

The incident came in the 92nd minute, with the game already beyond Porto.

The confrontation before it

That was not the night's only flashpoint. Images showed Rúben Dias placing a hand on what appeared to be Francesco Farioli, the Porto head coach.

Uefa will wait for the match report of the referee, Szymon Marciniak, and its delegate, Stéphanie Ford, before deciding whether to bring any action against the defender or against City. No charges had been brought at the time of writing.

Headers practised in the garden

The opening goal came from a part of Haaland's game he has rebuilt deliberately, and he was unusually specific about how.

"Two days ago I was practising headers with my dad in the garden," he said, referring to Alf Inge Haaland, a former City player himself.

He said he had "worked a lot on my heading" over a period of years, improving it to the point where it has "become a strength of my game", and attributed much of that to experience.

It is a striking detail for a player of his standing: the most expensive attacking asset in the English game, working on near-post headers in a garden two days before a Champions League tie.

The rest that will not come

Haaland, 26, was asked about his manager Enzo Maresca's suggestion that he may need a break, and agreed without sounding hopeful.

"It's not easy to get any rest in this business," he said.

He set out the arithmetic that makes it difficult. During an international break, he said, "we play four games in 10 or 11 days". The remedy, as he described it, is to "squeeze in a few days here and there" and give the mind a break rather than the legs.

The distinction he draws — resting the mind rather than the legs — is the one players increasingly make about a calendar that now includes a 36-team league phase.