You feared that Gabriel Magalhaes had gone too early in Goating Erling Haaland.
Less than two minutes it took for the arsenal defender, with a distorted expression overcome by the ecstasy of his side that took an early lead by Martin Odegaard, to recalculate his feud with the Spits of Manchester City by celebrating the face of Haaland.
These two of course have history. They are not on the Christmas card lists of each other, say it that way.
Maybe Gabriel knew what we were. Haaland hit the ball only six times in the first 45 minutes and completed only one successful pass.
Of course you only need one touch to score a goal. Indeed, the Norwegian threatened to ram back the antics of the Brazilian back in his throat at the beginning of the second half when he nodded a header outside of David Raya to level.
The self -inflicted pain suffered due to the shabolic defense of the city during the rest of the second half ensured that Arsenal – and Gabriel – left the emirates with the last smile.
'Stay modest,' was notorious to Mikel Arteta after the full -time whistle during the competitions of competition between these two games in the Etihad Stadium earlier this season after John Stones shot a equalizer deep in the stopping time to level, he threw the ball In Gabriel's head.
It is Haaland who must tolerate a large slice of modest cake afterwards.
The sight of his arch enemy, the fist Gabriel, who almost pumps the crowd as if he would rub this heavy defeat in the face of Haaland, did not help Haaland's mood.
The choice of the Tannoy operator for full -time music – the song of Kendrick Lamar Humble – was also not lost on Haaland.
Neither would the sight of the brilliant Myles Lewis-Skelly imitate that Haaland's trademark meditation celebration after hammering home Arsenal's third.
“I didn't see it … did he do that? That's good, “Stadsbaas Pep Guardiola responded when he was asked about Lewis Skelly's choice of the celebration.
Apart from such antics, which becomes a Lewis-Skelly player. Nothing shuns this supreme talent that is cut at Arsenal's famous Hale End Finishing School.
Twice the 18-year-old was confronted with the impressive physical figure of Haaland. Both times Lewis-Skell passed through with flag and pennant.
A certain English international in the making. Thomas Tuchel also has a problem on the left and Lewis-Skelly, despite his age, every centimeter looks the answer to the dilemma of the English head coach.
He had his own reason to humiliate Haaland, after he was asked 'Who the F *** are you' by the Norwegian in the Fracas after the September in the Etihad.
The teenager was replaced in the final phase of this meeting to a delightful ovation of the natives. Haaland, on the other hand, has passed the shame of completing this miserable afternoon.
The importance of the 24-year-old for the present and the future of the city is indisputable. The figures speak for themselves. He is still the most important man of the city.
But no matter how ridiculous it sounds, it's hard to shake “what does he do if he doesn't score goals” claims.
By the time Peter Bankes blew for the last whistle, Haaland had only added three details to his first half to bring his total count to nine.
Since the statistics of OPTA started in 2003, only one outfield player who completed 90 minutes in a Premier League game has less contact -Romelu Lukaku had seven when he played for Chelsea against Crystal Palace in 2022.
One of the three second half of Haaland was of course the Equalizer of City. That kind of ratio should not be sniffed. But with his team capitulated again, Haaland could only try five passes. And only two were successful.
It is clear that the city is stuttering a team through a transition; Arsenal's ruthless dismantling of Guardiola's side here further proof of their surprising fall from favor.
But after he recently signed a contract of nine and a half years, Haaland remains a constant during evolution.
Since his arrival of Borussia Dortmund in 2022, this team is aimed at delivering the ammunition to Haaland to dismiss them to glory, and he kept a plan by his side of the bargain, but they have to come up with a plan to replicate that success.
Nobody writes off Haaland. If you are, you are foolish. But having said that, this regeneration of the city must find a way to feed their targeted beast.
At the last whistle, there seemed to be a goal for the body language of Haaland. He clearly tried to encourage the teammates who almost crossed his path as if they wanted to say, “We're going again.”
He immediately approached the way contingent, those who stayed until the end, to cheer their support. He did not base, he was not abandoned.
City needs that kind of leadership if they want to find a way out of their funk. But more pertinent they need performance. They need his goals.
There was no reconciling embrace between Gabriel and Haaland after the last whistle. The Arsenal defender was too busy eradicating the crowd after this destruction on a side that stood in the way of the glory of his team.
Eventually it was left to Haaland's father Alfie to take a swing back. In response to a message on X from the official Arsenal account that was wearing a photo of the team that celebrated the goal of Lewis-Skelly with the message 'this team', Stakand SNR put pleasure in the Gunners: 'This team All that wins. Ehhhh, not. '
Actions speak louder than words and Arsenal spoke the loudest here.
It is now up to Guardiola to put together a team that is able to offer Haaland JNR the platform to make his own riposte next season.
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