Pep Guardiola named an unchanged starting team for the first time in two and a half years for our eagerly anticipated return to the Etihad, but it was the visitors who took the early lead through Sammie Szmodics.
It didn’t take long for the Champions to respond, with Haaland stroking in the leveller from the penalty spot in the 12th minute, after Savinho was fouled inside the box by Leif Davis.
Seconds later, Kevin De Bruyne struck in his 150th club career goal to put us ahead, capitalising on an error by Ipswich goalkeeper Arijanet Muric, who was pressed eagerly by Savinho.
The attacking barrage continued and Haaland experly added his second and our third, latching onto De Bruyne‘s pinpoint pass to go past Muric and finish calmly from a difficult angle.
Remarkably, there were only three minutes and 11 seconds between Haaland’s equaliser and the striker’s second goal to put us 3-1 up at a joyous Etihad.
Our skipper De Bruyne remained on the front foot and almost claimed a brace, but his thunderous dipping and swerving strike from long range cannoned back off the crossbar.
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Shortly before full-time, Haaland claimed his hat-trick with a low drive from 20 yards, taking him to four goals in our opening two league matches.
The victory now means we are unbeaten in our last 45 matches at the Etihad Stadium in all competitions and maintain our 100% winning start to the new season.
View the best images from the victory via our gallery below.
