Erling Haaland scored another Manchester City hat-trick as the champions swept past Ipswich Town but, by that point, somebody else had become the story.
Haaland hat-tricks are expected by now; this was his 10th in a City shirt alone. He has played two seasons and two matches for the club. “The numbers are ridiculous,” Pep Guardiola says.
Nowhere near as expected — this time last week, anyway — was the sight of Ilkay Gundogan in a City shirt, strutting around in midfield as Ipswich were beaten 4-1.
Nine days before this game, last Thursday morning, the 33-year-old was happily a Barcelona player. But by Thursday evening, he knew he needed to find a way out, so he called Guardiola.
It was last Saturday that the first rumours of his potential exit started leaking out of Barcelona, by Tuesday morning the world knew, thanks to The Athletic’s Pol Ballus, that he was on his way back to Manchester. Wednesday night he was dining with Guardiola on King Street, Thursday he did his photo shoots and interviews and by Friday it was official. He is, remarkably, a City player again.
Haaland’s achievements cannot be diminished but, between his second goal in the 16th minute, which capped a 191-second, three-goal City blitz, and his third in the 88th minute, little of note had happened.
Apart from the things Gundogan did. Warm-up? Huge cheers. Taking his jacket off to come on? Huge cheers. Returning to the Etihad Stadium turf? Huge cheers. First touch? Murmurs of anticipation before… you get the idea.
“It feels like I’ve never been away, it feels like home,” he said afterwards, visibly delighted to be back.
“It’s such a joy, so much happiness to play again for this amazing club, in front of this amazing crowd. I feel very privileged. I couldn’t have wished for a better start, and I’m very proud to be back, to be with the people here. Having all these memories, and hopefully try to make even better and new memories in the future.”
Gundogan’s return was greeted with a lot of love (Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)
“Thank you for this warm welcome to him,” Guardiola said. “He is unbelievably happy… I am very pleased he is back.”
The whole thing has been pretty surreal. Nobody at City, least of all Guardiola, wanted Gundogan to leave in the first place, but there was a bit of prevarication in the boardroom about the kind of contract he should be offered last year and, in the meantime, he was won over by the idea of playing for Barcelona.
The reality of playing for Barcelona is different these days, though, and he discovered that the grass was not greener.
While Guardiola stressed several times that Gundogan had nothing bad to say about the club, the midfielder’s wife has hinted at her dissatisfaction with their time in Catalonia and there might be more to come. The way that Gundogan was essentially forced out to find room for a replacement who was not registered at the time of writing tells a story too.
At City, he is truly loved. If that is not summed up by Guardiola’s family helping to find him a place to stay in Barcelona last summer, it would have been when he saw the City players before their game against Barca in Orlando last month, while he was still a Barca player and expecting to be for another two years. “Not even a gesture, not even a, ‘Oh, how I miss Manchester,” Guardiola said on Friday, in a press conference dominated by Gundogan questions.
Make no mistake Guardiola loves him, too: Gundogan even floated the possibility of joining the manager’s staff in the future and, by all accounts, that is now something on the cards. It is hard enough to get a spot in Guardiola’s team, let alone staff.
The reaction to his return around the club, in the media and among the fans has been understandably and overwhelmingly positive, given City have regained one of their best-ever players, one who can stand in for Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne or Haaland.
City were looking for somebody to come in without too many expectations around playing time, but the Gundogan opportunity presented itself. While he may not be considered the same indisputable starter that he was by the time he left, if he performs well, then why would he not start?
There might be a couple of noses put out of joint to that effect, although the pros outweigh the cons. He came onto the pitch before Matheus Nunes, a sign that he has been pushed further down the pecking order. It is probably the same for James McAtee, who also came on, as soon as Haaland had put in place a three-goal buffer.
Gundogan came on with 19 minutes remaining (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Guardiola was asked about that element and, after neatly side-stepping it, he took the chance to send a reminder to Gundogan, as brilliant a player as he is, that he probably cannot be considered a returning hero for the rest of his second stint.
“The impact depends on how he plays,” the manager said, almost delivering a reminder that mythical, match-winning performances should probably not be taken for granted. “If he plays good, the impact will be good, if not then the impact will not be good.
“But knowing him a little bit… as a manager, I am not a big big fan of re-signing players with this age, but I know him quite well and his mentality is in the right position, he is a huge competitor and financially he came back free so we said, ‘OK, we can do it’.”
Gundogan is in a rare position now. Certain players have become fan favourites at City for various reasons, whether that is Rodri, De Bruyne or Phil Foden, and while some of their mistakes or poor performances can be more easily glossed over, they have never left the club, allowing all of their achievements and contributions to be set in stone.
Whenever they leave, they will be afforded the next level of nostalgia — just like David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and Gundogan.
Now Gundogan is back, not to rewrite history but charged with creating more. As Guardiola said on another two occasions, eager to get the new era started, “Shoes on, let’s go.”
(Top photo: Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)
