Arsenal decided this one before Haaland had touched the ball. Riccardo Calafiori met a Myles Lewis-Skelly through ball to score inside 24 seconds, the FA confirmed in its match report, setting a tone Manchester City never wrestled back. Kai Havertz doubled the lead in the 29th minute and captain Martin Ødegaard swept home the third three minutes into the second half.
For Haaland, Cardiff was one of the flattest days of his career: seven touches before being pulled off in the 53rd minute. Planet Football noted it was the heaviest opening-game defeat for any Manchester City manager since 1906.
He was not entirely anonymous. Haaland ran one-on-one at David Raya before the break and produced an off-balance effort the Arsenal goalkeeper saved comfortably, the kind of finish that usually goes the other way.
Haaland disputes the seven-touch count
Asked about the widely circulated statistic in the build-up to City’s Premier League opener, Haaland pushed back.
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“Seven touches? I counted more than that.”
The deadpan reply was classic Haaland, and it doubled as his only concession that the number had reached him at all.
Maresca points to the World Cup diary
The Italian was named as Pep Guardiola’s successor at the end of June. Several of his World Cup players had barely trained before kick-off, he said, and the plan with all of them was to change them after 45 minutes or an hour at most.
He did not sugar-coat what happened either.
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“The goal we conceded after 30 seconds affects the game. It’s a defeat that hurts us, but it’s only the beginning.”
Arsenal captain Ødegaard, named man of the match, sounded like a title-holder settling his address.
“I think we showed our level today, that we are ready. We are serious and we want to do it again.”
New City captain Ruben Dias, standing in for the absent Rodri, framed the loss as growing pains.
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“It’s part of any transition, for things to not be perfect in the beginning. You need to keep on working.”
The Norway sideshow
Norway qualified for a World Cup for the first time in 28 years this summer with Haaland as their talisman, and by the time their run ended he had become one of the tournament’s viral figures. His 6,000-calorie diet of steak, fish, eggs, raw milk and honey, his Instagram following of around 60 million (more than ten times the population of Norway), and answers like “raw milk” when asked for his favourite matchday snack all travel further than most of his shots.
City open their Premier League season at home to Bournemouth on Sunday, the first chance for Haaland to add to his touch count.
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