On Friday Pep Guardiola suggested Erling Haaland’s teammates should support the Norwegian in the goalscoring stakes.
Cut to 48 hours later and guess who did the business yet again – twice – for Manchester City to take them into a 2-1 half-time lead that proved unassailable?
Step forward the phenomenon who now has 13 Premier League goals this season and a seismic total of 98 in 107 appearances in England’s top flight.
After him, this year, Burnley’s Maxime Estève – via two own goals – is City’s highest league contributor; Phil Foden, Tijjani Reijnders, Matheus Nunes, Rayan Cherki and Nico O’Reilly (in this game) have all scored once.
Both Haaland’s goals punished Andoni Iraola’s high-line strategy as he burst behind Bournemouth, while O’Reilly scored the third after the break.
On 82 minutes Guardiola removed the Norwegian – to the ovation he deserved – and City’s sixth victory of the season put them on 19 points, six behind Arsenal in second, at least until Sunderland host Everton on Monday.
Haaland said: “I think there were a few fantasy football managers that were unhappy that I was subbed off.”
Foden, like Cherki, was a leading support act to Haaland, often popping up in pockets as he did when on the half-turn for Jérémy Doku to find.
Space opened, Foden flitted in and saw his shot smack off Marcos Senesi for a corner. Two followed, each taken by Foden and each using a near-post Haaland flick to try to cause chaos in the Cherries’ area.
They survived. As had City when, moments into the contest, Eli Junior Kroupi found the net but was offside. Iraola’s team replicated the move via Antoine Semenyo, who swept them deep into City turf before a pass left to David Brooks.
A better killer instinct and the captain could have homed in on Gianluigi Donnarumma’s goal: instead he allowed Nunes to outmuscle him and City cleared.
Haaland, the expert in ruthlessness, showed Brooks how. Midway inside City’s half he headed from Foden to Nico González, turned, and galloped forward.
The holding midfielder chipped to Cherki who, lurking near the halfway line, nodded the ball sweetly into Haaland. What occurred next offered zero surprise. The No 9 raced in, Adrien Truffert could not catch him, and Haaland had a 25th goal in all competitions, beating Djordje Petrovic to his right – off a leg – before celebrating with a robot-like mime.
Afterwards, on X, his explanation seemed to be that here was a response to those who brand him robotic in play. “Guess I couldn’t hide it any longer,” Haaland said.
This was 17 minutes in. Haaland’s 26th goal arrived just after the half-hour – after the visitors’ equaliser – and, again, came from another lightning City break.
Foden fed Cherki, whose left boot this time released Haaland who, from an inside-right zone, cut across before, once more, giving Petrovic scant chance, this time rounding the goalkeeper.
Before this, Donnarumma’s poor handling of Alex Scott’s corner allowed the ball to dribble to Tyler Adams and equalise from close range. City’s keeper – and teammates – complained that Brooks impeded him. He did hook a hand around Donnarumma but let it go in time for the Italian to try to punch away, so the goal seemed fair.
The referee, Anthony Taylor, provoked more home ire when, before Haaland’s second, he rejected a penalty shout after Bernardo Silva’s cross struck Álex Jiménez’s hand: it first hit the right-back’s knee so the referee ruled this correctly, too.
City could have gone 3-1 up when O’Reilly’s raid had him turning back across goal but Silva, agonisingly, could not turn the ball home.
Iraola’s homework informed him of City’s susceptibility to the counter and so as the hour neared, his players went to turn those in sky blue this way. Scott tapped to Kroupi and only Donnarumma’s flying leap stopped a second equaliser.
O’Reilly’s third was a diagram of why City, in this 10th game of the campaign, are a different beast to last season.
Cherki’s pass to Foden was as slick as the toe-poke to O’Reilly that was an assist for the Stockport Iniesta on a 200th Premier League appearance. The big left-back ran in on goal, then left Petrovic flailing with a low shot.
City cruised and searched for another as is the Guardiola modus operandi. Yet Semenyo kept them honest with a skip past Cherki down the left before a cross that Marcus Tavernier was inches from connecting with.
This meeting came a year to the day since Bournemouth’s first (and only, so far) league win over City initiated a run of four straight defeats and their midterm slump.
Yamal, Rashford Help Barca Bounce Back
Goals from Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford guided Barcelona to a 3-1 victory over Elche on Sunday, propelling the defending champions to second place in La Liga with 25 points, five adrift of the leaders, Real Madrid.
Looking to bounce back after their 2-1 loss to Madrid in last weekend’s clásico, Barcelona wasted no time in asserting their dominance at Montjuïc’s Olympic Stadium.
They made the most of two defensive errors by Elche in the opening minutes to grab a two-goal lead with strikes by Lamine Yamal and Torres in the ninth and 11th minutes.
Alejandro Balde pounced on a loose pass and delivered a precise through ball to Lamine Yamal, who showed exceptional composure, cutting inside before unleashing a left-footed shot into the top corner.
It was his first league goal since 31 August and was a much-needed boost for the 18-year-old after weeks of struggling with a lingering groin injury.
Two minutes later, the Elche right-back, Adria Pedrosa, slipped in his own half and Fermin López capitalised, pouncing on the loose ball before delivering a low cross into the six-yard box, where Torres was on hand to tap the ball into the net.
Rafa Mir reduced the deficit from a quick counter but Rashford extended the home side’s lead with a great finish from inside the box in the 61st minute.
Torres told Dazn: “It was very important to start strong and intense. From there, we could take the game where we wanted it to go. We knew the type of game they were going to play and we started very strong. We were a bit off afterwards, but we found our spirit and our intensity again in the second half.”
Elsewhere, Antony scored twice and set up a goal for Abde Ezzalzouli as Betis eased to a 3-0 win over Mallorca.
OTHER RESULTS FROM ACROSS EUROPE
ENGLAND: Premier League
West Ham – Newcastle 3:1
Manchester City – Bournemouth 3:1
FRANCE: Ligue 1
Rennes – Strasbourg 4:1
Lens – Lorient 3:0
Lille – Angers 1:0
Nantes – Metz 0:2
Toulouse – Le Havre 0:0
Brest – Lyon 0:0
GERMANY: Bundesliga
FC Koln – Hamburger SV 4:1
Wolfsburg – Hoffenheim 2:3
ITALY: Serie A
Verona – Inter 1:2
Fiorentina – Lecce 0:1
Torino – Pisa 2:2
Parma – Bologna 1:3
AC Milan – AS Roma 1:0
NETHERLANDS: Eredivisie
Heracles – Zwolle 8:2
Groningen – Twente 1:1
Sparta Rotterdam – AZ Alkmaar 0:1
Utrecht – Nijmegen 1:0
SPAIN: LaLiga
Levante – Celta Vigo 1:2
Alaves – Espanyol 2:1
Barcelona – Elche 3:1
Betis – Mallorca 3:0
*PHOTO CAPTION: Haaland (right) rounds the goalkeeper before scoring …on Sunday.
