The inquest into Manchester City's relinquishing of their European crown has begun – and a certain Erling Haaland finds himself with some explaining to do.

City moved heaven and earth to lure Haaland to the Etihad in the summer of 2022 in a £50m deal. It paid instant dividends, with Haaland smashing all kinds of scoring records to lead City to a historic Treble in his first season in Manchester.

His 52 goals even helped City win the Champions League for the first time in history. But nothing is as fickle as football - and it's Halaand's lack of goals in the games that count most which have contributed to Pep Guardiola's men being dumped out of Europe 10 months later.

Haaland has scored 83 goals in 92 games since arriving in Manchester like some sort of whirlwind. His record is phenomenal - and it almost feels like a crime to criticise him. But the fact remains that in two quarter final legs against Real Madrid, Haaland has been anonymous.

The Norwegian has looked lost, a peripheral figure looking in from the outside, unable to influence the games. In the Bernabeu last week he spent most of the night in the pocket of Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger.

And when City needed him in the return leg on Wednesday, Haaland found himself back in the same place. His only notable contribution was a looping header which came back off the crossbar.

Haaland's miserable night ended when he could be seen limping towards the end of normal time and asked to be taken off. Perhaps Haaland has become the victim of his own remarkable success? Perhaps people just expect him to keep scoring for fun, no matter who the opposition are or what the occasion is? But there is no escaping the truth that Haaland's job is to hit the back of the net.

And he's done this just twice in his last seven games. In fact, the last time Haaland scored a goal of genuine significance, it came in the Manchester derby back in the first week of March.

Pundit Roy Keane recently suggested Haaland resembled a "League Two player". Which, even by Keane's standards, is ridiculous and embarrassing on his behalf. But when it comes to fact instead of fiction, Haaland has not been at his imperious best this season.

Guardiola didn't sign him to score five goals at Luton, he wanted him to influence the biggest matches. Yet Haaland has scored just once in five games against title rivals Liverpool and Arsenal this season, including the Community Shield.

And in two legs against European kings Real this week, Haaland had just two shots on target and managed only 21 touches in the second tie. He is also City's designated penalty taker, having scored 42 of 47 in his career. So Guardiola's decision to take him off was a gamble which backfired.

It's worth noting Haaland missed two months of the season with a fractured bone in his foot, but has still plundered 31 goals, including 20 in the Premier League. What would Marcus Rashford give for a record like this? But the growing feeling is that sometimes, Guardiola's tactics are not best suited to Haaland's strengths.

That opponents are starting to work him out. Haaland has achieved great things and could still finish the campaign as a Double winner. But while reaching the top is one thing, staying there is another challenge altogether.