Chelsea were undone by goals from Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovacic as Manchester City made a winning start to their Premier League title defence. The Blues fought hard to get themselves back into the game but were unable to avoid defeat in their season opener.
They were made to pay for a slow start when Haaland broke the deadlock inside the opening 20 minutes, muscling his way past two defenders and lifting the ball over Robert Sanchez from close range.
Chelsea settled into the match and thought they had equalised through Nicolas Jackson, only to be denied by the assistant referee’s flag. They continued to push in the second half but the result was put beyond doubt when Kovacic scored against his former club late on.
Express Sport takes a look at the biggest talking points from today’s game at Stamford Bridge…
Haaland brutally embarrasses Cucurella
Marc Cucurella was made to eat his words after being left red-faced by Haaland in the build-up to City’s opening goal. The defender called him out during Spain’s celebrations after winning the Euros over the summer, singing the line: “Haaland trembles, Cucurella is coming.”
Haaland was definitely not trembling when he bullied Cucurella in a physical battle and scored City’s first goal after 18 minutes. Maybe the Chelsea man will think more carefully about his choice of words in future to avoid further embarrassment.
