MAN CITY VS IPSWICH HIGHLIGHT.

At the Etihad Stadium, Erling Haaland was at his merciless best as he led Manchester City to a decisive 4-1 victory over Ipswich Town with his eighth Premier League hat-trick.

After falling behind after seven minutes on a debut goal from Ipswich’s summer acquisition Sammie Smozdics, City immediately responded, scoring three goals in as many minutes with two strikes from Haaland and the season’s opening goal for Kevin De Bruyne.
At the end of regulation, the Norwegian scored his hat-trick, and the reigning champions began their championship defence with two victories from two games.

Phil Foden was completely absent from the starting lineup because of illness, but Pep Guardiola started an identical lineup from the 2-0 victory over Cheslea on the first weekend of the season.

İlkay Gündoğa, the previous captain of the team, was able to return to City after leaving Barcelona on Friday, even though Foden was not included in the bench. Regarding the visitors, Szmodics is starting in his debut Premier League match after Kieran McKenna made three changes to the team that fell to Liverpool 2-0 in their first matchback in the top division of England.
Ben Johnson and Arijanet Muric also entered the starting lineup, with Christian Walton, Conor Chaplin, and Wes Burns all having to make way.

Although the victories came 24 years earlier at Maine Road, the former home of Manchester City, Ipswich had won both of their prior two trips there. Although City had possession early on, the visitors shocked everyone by taking the lead. Szmodics launched his Premier League career on his debut, finishing clinically past Ederson after being sent through on goal by Johnson, to the delight of the visiting supporters. Szmodics scored 27 goals in the Champions last season.

The Premier League rookies had a fantastic start, but their happiness was short-lived when Savinho was hauled down in the penalty area by Leif Davis, and following a VAR review, City was given a penalty. To even the match, Haaland stepped up and sent Muric the wrong way. Five minutes after Guardiola’s team had fallen down, things quickly got worse for McKenna’s team as Savinho spotted Muric lingering on the ball. Kevin De Bruyne then put the ball in the empty net to complete the comeback for Guardiola’s team.

Then, two minutes into the game, City scored their third goal of the night, turning the encounter into a nightmare for the visitors. Haaland received a wonderful pass from De Bruyne that sliced through the Ipswich defence and into the path of the custodian. Haaland then finished expertly from a close range. Ipswich stopped the goals from coming in after giving up three in six minutes, but they were still under a lot of pressure from the winners.
Just before the half-hour mark, Guardiola’s team came agonisingly close to netting their fourth goal as they twice hit the crossbar in two minutes. Rico Lewis attempted the first chance from close range, and then De Bruyne sent a hard shot from outside the area that had beaten Muric. Both times, the men in blue were denied by the crossbar. As City continued to press for a fourth goal, Ipswich found it difficult to get out of their own half. Just before halftime, Jérémy Doku broke into the penalty area and cut the ball back into Haaland’s path, but the Norwegian was unable to maintain his effort.

With a 3-1 advantage at the half, City would have been relieved that the score wasn’t any higher for Ipswich.Second Half: Due to Mateo Kovačić’s injury, City had to make a change early in the half. John Stones came on as the Croatian’s midfield replacement.
Four goals were scored in the first sixteen minutes of play. However, in the first sixteen minutes of the second half, neither team could muster an opportunity as Ipswich appeared to be a far more cohesive team than they had in the first.
Haaland had another opportunity to score a hat-trick when he met De Bruyne’s inviting ball into the penalty box, but Muric made a superb save to keep the striker from scoring. Despite having a rough first half, the goalie was able to preserve the score at 3-1 with an incredible close-range stop.
With 20 minutes remaining, the home crowd, having been thoroughly pampered in the first half, was ecstatic when Guardiola substituted Gündoğan, to the sound of “Gündoğan’s coming home” reverberating throughout the Etihad Stadium. Three minutes remaining in the game, Haaland finally secured his sixth hat-trick for Manchester City, and he did it in spectacular fashion, just as the game appeared to be winding down. Guardiola’s team won 4-1 when the ball dropped to his feet 25 yards from goal. He then unleashed a powerful, low shot that reached the bottom corner.

It is now two wins in two games for Manchester City to start the season as they gear up to face West Ham United at the London Stadium on Saturday evening,
In City’s first home game of the season against one of the newly promoted teams, Haaland would have been licking his lips before kickoff. His team needed his excellence tonight after falling down early.

Player of the Match – Erling Haaland

Man City 4-1 Ipswich