GIANLUIGI DONNARUMMA owes his big pal Erling Haaland a huge thank you for sparing his blushes.  

The pair – both part of the captaincy group at the Etihad – sat together on the flight out to Germany on Tuesday afternoon.

But as skipper for the night, the striker would have been dismayed to see his keeper drop another clanger to gift Ridle Baku an equaliser early in the second half. 

Yet Haaland loves playing against Leipzig and sure enough he had the last word in another high-scoring game between these two old foes. 

He tapped in the late winner to finally break Leipzig’s resistance – after a superb run and cross from Elliot Anderson. 

These two teams know each other well having met six times in the last five years and if there is one thing guaranteed when they do meet it is goals. 

A total of 30 have gone in during their previous meetings – making it the second-highest scoring fixture in the competition for goals per game. 

And we were not disappointed here – although it took a while to get going.  

Enzo Maresca and Martin Demichelis are close friends – almost like brothers after playing together at Malaga – and together they served up a treat. 

Rayan Cherki – one of four changes to the team from the defeat by Brighton – took a pass from Enzo Fernandez but pulled his effort past the far post. 

Red Bull had been slow starters but found their wings after that early scare and had chances to go ahead. 

Antonio Nusa, an international team-mate of Haaland, fired a shot from 20 yards that was pushed over the bar – slightly unconvincingly – by Donnarumma. 

Then David Raum saw his effort blocked by Matheus Nunes after the visitors had failed to clear their lines. 

While City had most of the ball, Leipzig were creating the best chances and another opening saw Christophe Baumgartner curl a shot beyond Donnarumma but just wide of the post. 

England hopeful Phil Foden had talked on the eve of this game about how he wanted to chip in more goals to take the heat off Haaland. 

He had the chance to do just that when he pounced on a poor clearance and created space for himself but then steered his effort narrowly off target. 

However, City did not have to wait long for their opener as eight minutes before the break Nico O’Reilly crossed from the left looking to pick out Fernandez. 

But Castello Lukeba slid in to get there first but in doing so, he could only direct it into his own net. 

Leipzig boss Demichelis – who was a title-winning centre-back with Man City and Bayern Munich as a player – looked on in despair as his team did not deserve to be behind. They soon put that right though.

Donnarumma showed what he can do when he made a flying save to deny Baumgartner. 

But then came another moment to forget. Brajan Gruda saw Baku’s run on the outside and played him in. The full-back spotted a gap at the near post and rolled his shot there.

It was a clever idea from the Germany international full-back – but surely the keeper should not be beaten from there? 

The game was back in the balance and City edged ahead again when Iliman Ndiaye’s cross to the back post was headed home emphatically by Fernandez.

The record signing has had some underwhelming displays recently but it was a sweet moment for the Argentina internatonal. 

He didn’t have long to enjoy it though – just three minutes to be exact. His old Chelsea team-mate Christopher Nkunku made a quick impact – spraying a pass to Nusa who brought it down and finished superbly. 

The Frenchman was banished to the “bomb squad” at Stamford Bridge by Maresca – so it was the perfect answer for him. 

And Nusa – who starred with Haaland at the World Cup – looked set to get one over on his mate.

But the main man – who had been quiet against his favourite opponents – had the last word scoring against Leipzig for a 13^th time in eight games.

Maresca wants more of his players to chip in with goals but he won’t mind too much with the Norwegian in this kind of form – that’s 14 for the season now.  

Even so there was time for both teams to hit the woodwork with Raum curling an effort against the bar – with Donnarumma nowhere. 

Cherki thumped an effort against the post while home keeper Maarten Vandevoordt scrambled another Haaland effort around the post. 

Demichelis and Maresca shared a big hug at the end – fans will hope they can meet more often if it produces second halves like this.