Erling Haaland marked his 100th appearance for Manchester City in typical power-play fashion, delivering the first as the defending champions of the Premier League opened their title defense with a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea.
Haaland once again showed his finishing prowess by turning home Bernardo Silva's astute pass in the 18th minute. The Norway striker dinked the ball over Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez to register his 91st goal for City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.
Shortly after Haaland's goal, Kevin De Bruyne nearly doubled the Citizens' advantage and was inches wide from the edge of the penalty area with a shot. Another instance was when Jeremy Doku worked Sanchez with a deflected effort, but he saved it.
Mauricio Pochettino's Chelsea did have moments of pressure. They thought that they had a leveller when Nicolas Jackson took advantage of a loose ball following Ederson's misdeal with Cole Palmer's shot, but Jackson's joy was immediately brought to an end by the assistant referee's flag, offside, so no first Premier League goal.
The second half began with another chance falling to Jackson, whose volley was very well saved by Ederson when Chelsea was pushing very hard to level things. But City's defense, marshaled very well by Ruben Dias, stood firm against waves of Chelsea attacks.
Haaland was yet to be done, and he almost doubled City's advantage when another forceful shot almost turned past the post. Rico Lewis also thought he had scored, but he had strayed offside.
That final came through Mateo Kovacic, a former Chelsea player himself. Signed with City in 2023, Kovacic recalled how to make an impression at Stamford Bridge by scoring a fabulous goal in the 87th minute. He curled it around pretty and into the top corner from just outside the area to seal it for Pep Guardiola's team.
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