Manchester City didn’t have their full complement to warm up. They had been offside for a few minutes, passing balls back and forth, but one was missing. Left behind in the dressing room.
Fashionably late, Ilkay Gundogan finally came out. Everyone turned to him, players and supporters alike. Those inside were more reserved when Pep Guardiola later introduced him for a second debut in a place he calls home, but it still felt like a moment.
Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker, John Stones and a few others noticed that Gundogan seemed a little embarrassed by this reception and laughed at his embarrassment. The late arrival, with all eyes on him, must have been accidental and did not suit Gundogan’s personality.
Gundogan thought his last three games under Guardiola would end with him, as captain, lifting trophies – the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League – to cap off the club’s best-ever season. Little did he know that his next involvement with City would see them holding him aloft to celebrate a returning hero.
Erling Haaland had a hat-trick of his own, but to be honest, the day was about someone else. Gundogan’s 71st-minute substitute appearance caused more of a stir than the goals and the final score. ‘Gundo’s coming home’, they sang, and the week has cheered up the City fans a little.
Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick as Manchester City survived an early injury to beat Ipswich
Former City captain Ilkay Gundogan was the main attraction, coming off the bench to return
Kevin De Bruyne (centre) scored the goal on a successful afternoon for the home side at the Etihad Stadium
But that was dealt a blow after seven minutes. A big blow. Ipswich Town, brave off the ball as they had been against Liverpool last week, countered quickly through Guardiola’s midfield. Omari Hutchinson broke at pace, Ben Johnson chose when to let Sammie Szmodics in and he silenced what seemed like a carnival by squeezing past Ederson. A perfect example of what Ipswich have to offer.
Prodded and provoked, City set about effectively finishing off what looked like a game in 193 seconds of the first half. Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Haaland again. Bish, bash, bosh. That’s what they do, and that’s what they’ll do with better defences than Ipswich before May is out.
Kieran McKenna, however, was agitated, and rightly so, as all three were entirely avoidable. Aro Muric – a great goalkeeper who arrived from Burnley, with the stats to prove it – was guilty of two of these errors on his debut back at the club that nurtured him.
City were already level when Muric, 25, collected a ball on the edge of his penalty area and hesitated. Savinho didn’t, unsettling the Kosovar and giving De Bruyne the loose ball. He cleared the extra with his left foot in the 14th minute.
Ipswich and Muric were shocked and seconds later both became their own undoing. De Bruyne’s lofted pass had form, though it picked apart defenders too easily and Haaland galloped in a way that only Haaland can. So did Muric – foolishly, in retrospect – and the striker touched the ball twice: once to nod past the onrushing keeper and another to calmly slot his foot into an unguarded net.
The equaliser, in the 12th minute, was the fault of Leif Davis, who forced his way into Savinho as he raced towards the byline in a situation that only half threatened the visitors. Sam Allison, the substitute referee after Michael Salisbury fell in the warm-up, disallowed it, but VAR told him otherwise. Haaland slotted home the penalty. Muric would later make a stunning save from Haaland’s header to underline his natural talent. The blunders, however, must be addressed if he is to progress.
Ipswich were positive, unsettling the champions at times, and Davis felt he deserved a penalty when, after leaping past Rico Lewis, he was run over by Savinho. Unlike earlier, there was no intervention from outside. Decisions like this here have to go the way of the away teams if they are to leave with something, and the general grievances of those who had travelled from Suffolk were evident later with loud, ironic cheers for winning a routine free-kick.
That felt like Savinho’s only real blemish on a day of City’s now annual celebration of sister club Bahia from his native Brazil. There haven’t been many Guardiola signings who have tackled this team and this competition in this way. The way he hounded Muric for De Bruyne’s goal was with an intensity few of Guardiola’s natural wingers have managed over the years. City could have had more, with Lewis and De Bruyne both rattling the bar.
Gundogan’s name was chanted by the home fans and he was introduced in the second half
Sammie Szmodics scored early in the game for Ipswich, much to the shock of the crowd.
However, it was Haaland who had the biggest say as he scored his tenth hat-trick for City
It’s been 22 years since Ipswich played in the top flight, 23 years since they effectively knocked City out of the top flight with a win at Portman Road, where one of the sardonic banners read: “You’re the weakest link, goodbye.” Times change, Anne Robinson is no longer the matriarch of British quiz shows, but City fans haven’t forgotten the banner. Football is good for that nagging bitterness, and looking back serves as a reflection of what has really happened at the Etihad Stadium since then.
The more things change, the more they stay the same, and Haaland had the chance to do more damage. He turned on the edge of the box and found Muric’s far post. Four for him already this season.