Man City’s Haaland, Foden, each with a hat trick, bludgeon United 6-3
Sports Desk, Oct 2 (EFE).- Manchester City on Sunday demonstrated the marked difference between themselves and their crosstown rivals Manchester United, dealing them a 6-3 loss with hat tricks from both Erling Haaland and Phil Foden, although Anthony Martial scored a pair of late goals for the visitors.
Antony also scored for the Red Devils at Etihad Stadium after the break but Man City was already ahead 4-0 at that point.
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo was on the Man United bench the entire match.
With the win, Pep Guardiola’s boys are just one point behind the Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Foden scored just eight minutes into play on a pass from Bernardo Silva and Haaland added a goal on a great corner from Kevin de Bruyne in the 34th minute and another one – once again with De Bruyne’s help to beat David De Gea – three minutes later.
One minute before the break Foden scored again, this time on a great low crossing shot from Haaland, and Man City was riding high at the intermission.
After play resumed, Antony scored on a fabulous shot in minute 56, but Haaland made it 5-1 eight minutes later on an assist from Sergio Gomez and Foden scored yet again after a great move by Haaland in the 72nd minute.
Finally, Martial got one on the board for United in the 84th minute and another one in the 90th on a penalty kick.
With the three tallies he added on Sunday, Norway’s Haaland now has 14 goals in the Premier League, and he has scored in eight consecutive matches in all competitions. He’s also the first Premier League player ever to score a hat trick in three consecutive home matches.
The nine goals in this Manchester derby make it the highest-scoring such match in history.
City has come off the starting block with a vengeance so far this season and Haaland is on track to handily surpass the record of 34 goals scored by a single striker in a season.
Meanwhile, Wolverhampton, hovering desultorily in the relegation zone, fired Portuguese coach Bruno Lage on Sunday after the team’s 2-0 loss to West Ham the day before.
Lage, 46, had coached the squad since June 2021 and had managed to get the Wolves into 10th place last season, winning the best coaching award in January, and while team officials said that they had no doubt about his talent they added that situation left them no other option than to dismiss him.
Meanwhile, Leeds United and Aston Villa battled to a scoreless draw after the former were left with just 10 men following the expulsion of Luis Sinisterra. Leeds goaltender Illan Meslier made a number of key stops but the team seems to be stuck in the middle of the table at No. 12, while Aston Villa is in the 14th spot.
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