For once, ERLING HAALAND left his shooting boots at home and instead supported Julian Alvarez, his companion in crime.

Red Star Belgrade scored a shocking opening goal and was poised to pull off one of the biggest upsets in tournament history as the hotshot Norwegian squandered a number of opportunities.

However, he helped save City’s face by setting up Alvarez to score just 72 seconds after the restart, and the newly crowned champions never looked back.

A goalkeeping error allowed “The Spider” to score twice before Rodri, the MVP of the Champions League final, put the game away.

On a gorgeous night in Istanbul, City finally put an end to their protracted wait to be named the European champions 101 days ago.

The trophy was brought out prior to the start of their first match in this season’s competition by club legend Mike Summerbee.

The Serbian champions, despite having won this league in 1991, weren’t anticipated to pose a significant threat to City.

Nevertheless, they caused Pep Guardiola’s team 45 minutes of trouble, and they even had the audacity to grab the lead just before halftime.

Before that, it appeared that City would eventually gain the upper hand. Rodri dribbled by the defenders and fired a shot that Glazer successfully stopped.

And Haaland, who might have gone for the objective, unexpectedly decided to turn around and cross the goal.

The Norwegian was the competition’s top scorer with 12 goals last season, but his drought in the Champions League continues here when he failed to score in three matches.When you anticipated Haaland to score, Phil Foden’s left-wing cross reached him, but his head slammed into the underside of the crossbar.Boss Pep Guardiola seems upset that his striker wasn’t making use of his opportunities.The City manager claimed on the night of the game that winning one Champions League was unremarkable and that he wanted another one, but they were having trouble starting this season.  Nathan Ake was the recipient of a corner kick from Alvarez, and his header forced Glazer to make a full-stretch stop.Once more, Haaland is found by a Foden pull-back, but this time he blasts his shot high over the crossbar and into the stands.He may have already had the match ball, but Red Star bravely defended by stopping a Sergio Gomez slam with Srdan Mijailovic’s head.Foden squandered a wonderful opportunity while England manager Gareth Southgate watched as Glazer’s legs stopped his header.Bernardo Silva was replaced by newcomer Jeremy Doku by Guardiola just before the half. It is likely that Silva had an injury, but he did not look thrilled.  The first half saw City take 22 shots, which is a tournament record for most attempts made without a goal.Not surprisingly, that happened immediately at halftime. The goal was upheld after a VAR review revealed that the Ghanaian had been slightly played onside by Ruben Dias’ leg.Five years ago today, Mikel Arteta took command of City’s match against Lyon at the Etihad, and Guardiola, who was out due to suspension, watched from the stands.  Unbelievably, at the half, their streak of 26 games without a loss since is a record for an English team and it appeared to be in jeopardy.Since Sheriff Tiraspol defeated Real Madrid in the Bernabeu two years ago, it would have been one of the biggest upsets in recent memory. Coach Barak Bakhar of Red Star would have hoped that his team might continue to annoy the champions when he sent them out. He slid a pass to Alvarez, who skillfully rounded Glazer and sunk the equalizer from a tight angle.The Argentine has had a strong start to the season, and Guardiola recently declared him to be “almost undroppable.”The manager has been particularly thrilled by his connection to Haaland, and the two of them were back together just before the hour.Glazer mishandled an attempt from Alvarez from the edge of the box, but he made up for it by stopping the Norwegian from converting the rebound.The Israeli was enjoying the time of his life, but a few minutes later, his good fortune ended.Glazer could only assist as Alvarez drifted over a free-kick from the left that eluded everyone. The former River Plate forward was given credit for scoring twice in the game, but it’s possible that Manchester will record it as another own-goal by Glazer.He somewhat atoned for his mistake by stopping another header from Haaland with his legs as the home team attempted to win the match.But when Rodri switched passes with Foden before curling a low shot into the corner, he was powerless to stop it.