The 22-year-old Norwegian, who just about beat Bernd Leno with his 95th-minute spot-kick to send his side top of the Premier League and spark wild celebrations at Etihad Stadium, admitted to Sky Sports afterwards: “I was nervous – it was one of the most nervous moments of my life.

“A penalty in the last minute? Of course I would be nervous,” he added to BBC Sport. “But it was about getting through the situation in the proper way and I did that. It was a fantastic feeling to score.

“I love it. I have been injured for a week and it was really important for us to win.”

Haaland, who had started on the bench after missing City’s last two games with a foot problem, had seen an earlier header disallowed for offside by VAR and with four other targets either missed the ball, the target or saw his shot blocked.

He was not to be denied, however, and after scoring his second penalty for City, he now has 18 Premier League goals in his first 12 games – and 23 from 17 in all competitions – this season.

Most of his finishes during that spectacular scoring run have been a lot more emphatic than this latest strike, which Leno appeared to dive over and get a hand to without being able to keep it out, but Haaland’s only concern was that it ended up in the net, like all the rest.

“I don’t care how it went in, it is about it going in. It was an amazing feeling,” Haaland said.

“For me, it was about coming in with some energy and try and get a goal because these three points are really important. It was about trying to get it and that is what we did.”