Erling Haaland’s hat-trick helped Manchester City beat Chelsea 4-2 in Columbus in the pre-season.
Haaland, 24, scored twice in the first five minutes, capitalizing on two disastrous Chelsea mistakes as Enzo Maresca’s side gave the Premier League champions an early lead.
The first goal came after a loose pass from Tosin Adarabioyo and Levi Colville brought down Haaland for a fourth-minute penalty, which the Norwegian scored after the replay.
Haaland doubled City’s lead almost immediately when he intercepted Moises Kaysed’s errant pass and slotted home.
Another quick-fire pair of soft goals in the second half put Pep Guardiola’s champions in front, City’s third coming on as a substitute. A mistake by Raheem Sterling allowed Oscar Bobo to score with a shot past the post in the 55th minute.
And Haaland got a hat-trick just a minute later after another mistake by Mali Gust.
Chelsea pulled two goals back after Raheem Sterling headed in a cross in the 59th minute, then Noni Madueke scored on a counter-attack in the 88th minute in front of 68,000 fans at the Ohio Stadium.
Maresca insisted that his team played well in a “strange” game, and both coaches blamed the “dry” field for errors in possession.
City now return to the UK to face Manchester United in the Community Shield next Saturday.
Chelsea, meanwhile, remain in the United States for a match against Real Madrid on Tuesday night, before facing Inter Milan at Stamford Bridge next week.
Mareska’s approach clearly needs to be refined
It’s clear to see that former Leicester boss Maresca needs time to sleep in his tactical approach after just five weeks at Chelsea, compared to Guardiola’s eight years in charge.
All four goals were the result of errors from the back and while Maresca said mistakes were inevitable in his approach, he believes it will eventually lead to progress. Chelsea created openings at times, including two missed chances by Christopher Nkunku and one by Enzo Fernandez.
But City also had 15 senior players due to international commitments at Euro 2024 and the Copa America, 10 more than Chelsea.
There are legitimate questions as to whether full-backs like Rhys James and Mali Gust – who unusually started at left-back ahead of Ben Chilwell – can adapt to Chelsea’s latest new system in which several players play out of their usual positions.
Maresca admitted he is experimenting to find a balance and said: “The reason why is that at the moment I have to see things until the end of the season.
“It’s a strange game because you plan the game in one way, then you concede two goals and that changes the dynamic.”
“What can I say about the first half? The team kept the ball well, created some chances, found the right players and the right space.
“We have to learn that when you concede one, you can’t concede one and two minutes later another one.”
Haaland, Grealish and Bob are a deadly trio
Jack Grealish is using the disappointment of his absence from England’s Euro 2024 squad to fuel further success next season.
The winger, 28, helped set up the first goal with some sharp pressing and was close to Haaland throughout, allowing him to link up and create dangerous attacks.
“Jack had an incredible three games,” said Guardiola. “I said the first game was about rhythm. Against Barcelona he made five shots, one goal and today he is aggressive.
“I perfectly remember the Jack I knew.” Not how he plays, but how he trains and behaves, like two seasons ago. There is a lot of competition [in his position] and the best player who produces will play for the team.”
Haaland, of course, showed his sharpness for the new campaign with a killer 56th-minute hat-trick.
A host of Man City youngsters impressed, including Bob who put a shot through Colville’s legs for a goal, and could have scored another after some great dribbling.
Among City’s starters were Rico Lewis, James McKitty, who registered two assists, Josh Wilson-Esbrand and Nico O’Reilly.
Julian Alvarez, Kevin De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Savinho are yet to start pre-season with the first team, so Grealish, Haaland and Bob could be the starting trio at Wembley against Manchester United next weekend.