Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola praised his team’s attitude to defy a disrupted pre-season and get their English Premier League title defense off to a winning start on Sunday by beating Chelsea 2-0.
Goals from Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovacic inflicted defeat on Enzo Maresca in his first match in charge of the Blues.
From the start, City were shorn of all four of their Euro 2024 finalists — Rodri, Kyle Waker, John Stones and Phil Foden — as Guardiola opted to give them extra time off to recover from their summer exertions.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji did play the 90 minutes, despite their late return to training after reaching the knockout stages of the Euros.
Yet, the champions were still able to lay down a marker against one of the few sides they failed to beat in the league last season.
“I really didn’t expect it. I know what these guys can do, but the first day and lack of training,” Guardiola said. “We had two or three days to prepare, but we solved this lack of many things with our commitment.”
“You cannot imagine how privileged and fortunate I am to live these experiences with this incredible group of players,” he added.
Maresca has the tough task of molding a functioning team unit from a bloated Chelsea squad that has 43 players and more than 50 on the books including those on loan.
The consequences of those difficult decisions played out even before kickoff as Raheem Sterling’s camp released a statement expressing his dismay at being left out of the matchday squad.
Ben Chilwell was another to face the cull, while Conor Gallagher and Romelu Lukaku are among those not to have been handed squad numbers.
None of Chelsea’s nine summer signings to date were included in Maresca’s starting lineup.
Even more surprisingly, Enzo Fernandez was named captain, despite being embroiled in a race row for a post on social media after Argentina’s Copa America victory last month.
City, by contrast, are a model of continuity and consistent excellence.
Haaland was one of City’s few stars to have had a summer off from international tournaments and took just 18 minutes to make his mark.
Jeremy Doku’s low cross was deflected by Bernardo Silva into the Norwegian’s path and he coolly dinked over Robert Sanchez.
Yet Chelsea ended the first half in the ascendency and should have been level before the break.
Ederson spilled Cole Palmer’s tame shot, but was bailed out by Nicolas Jackson’s straying needlessly offside before he turned in the rebound.
Foden was forced into action earlier than Guardiola would have hoped at halftime as the lively Savinho was forced off injured on his Premier League debut.
The lack of pre-season minutes for many on show was apparent in the more pedestrian pace than normal for a major Premier League clash.
Chelsea did most of the pressing for an equalizer, but offered City chances to extend their lead in doing so.
“I think we competed very well for much of the game. We were similar if not better,” Maresca said. “The performance was there, but we didn’t take the chances. Probably the big difference was inside the box.”
Sanchez made a fine save to deny Haaland a second goal, but the Chelsea goalkeeper was at fault for the strike that sealed their fate.
Kovacic was allowed to burst through the midfield unchallenged and took aim for the top corner, which he found thanks to a weak hand from Sanchez.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS