After Sammie Szmodics had opened the scoring for the visitors early doors, Pep Guardiola’s men came charging back with a blink-and-you-miss it trio of goals all in the space of just three minutes and eleven seconds.
Haaland hit two, sandwiched by Kevin De Bruyne’s calm finish, to help us quickly overturn the shock lead for the Tractor Boys.
Haaland put the icing on the cake with a delightful drilled finish late on to bring up 23 career hat-tricks.
The afternoon also saw the on-pitch return of Ilkay Gundogan who was given a hero’s welcome as he made his Etihad homecoming for the final 20 minutes.
WHAT HAPPENED
There was a buzz in the air ahead of kick-off.
The sun was shining, we were back at the Etihad, summer signing Savinho was making his home debut and Ilkay Gundogan was returning home.
Then a ‘Four-in-a-Row’ pitchside tifo, complete with ‘History Makers’ inflatable, wowed the crowd as the champions headed pitchside.
And that was all before a ball was kicked.
The smiles were still firmly on the faces as our fans headed home following a classy and ultimately courageous performance.
Their happy faces dropped a little on seven minutes, though, with Ipswich looking to ignore the script.
Sammie Szmodics opened the scoring for the visitors, the former Blackburn striker springing the offside trap and squeezing the ball past Ederson after an expert pass through to him by the lively Omari Hutchinson.
There was shock in the stands but our sky blue stars simply used it as a catalyst to fire them up and to say it worked is a understatement, with three quickfire goals.
First, Savinho was upended in the box by Leif Davis. After a lengthy check at Stockley Park, referee Michael Salisbury was sent to the VAR monitor and after what felt like an equally lengthy viewing pitchside, the penalty was finally awarded.
Erling Haaland made no mistake from the spot on 12 minutes, sending Arijanet Muric the wrong way and levelling matters.
Savinho was involved again two minutes later as he put pressure on Muric before winning the ball off the goalkeeper and neatly nudging it to KDB who did the rest, rolling it calmly into an empty net.
More was to come as City made it three.
De Bruyne chipped a lovely ball over the top and Haaland got to it before the onrushing Muric and dinked it delightfully home on 16 minutes.
That made it 3-1 – and it could have been more, too, before the half-time whistle blew.
Rico Lewis saw a shot on 28 minutes from close-range smash against the upright following an intelligent cutback to him from the energetic Jeremy Doku.
Moments later, KDB had an equally powerful shot from 20 yards crash against the bar.
Haaland came close to a hat-trick in first half stoppage time, coming to the near post to meet a Doku cross from the left before seeing the chance clear the bar.
The second half didn’t begin with the same pizzazz we saw liven up the opening period but Haaland had bums off seats with a powerful header just past the hour mark which looked goalbound but was clawed out by the diving Muric.
The fans again rose to their feet on 71 minutes as a returning hero took to the pitch - Ilkay Gundogan stepping back on to the Etihad turf to raucous roars as a substitute for Savinho.
De Bruyne snuck in behind the Tractor Boys defence on 75 minutes, charging to the right byline before crossing to Haaland but the ball was marginally behind the striker and when it somehow found its way back to KDB, he blasted over.
City peppered the Ipswich goal for the final 10 minutes and were finally rewarded with a stunning low finish by Haaland as he bagged his 10th treble and 94th goal for City.
TEAMS
CITY XI: Ederson, Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol, Kovacic (Stones 50’), De Bruyne (C) (Nunes 90’), Bernardo, Savinho (Grealish 71’), Doku (Gundogan 71’), Haaland (McAtee 90’)
Unused subs: Ortega Moreno, Walker, Ake, Kabore
IPSWICH XI: Muric, Davis, Morsy (C), Woolfenden, Johnson, Delap (Al-Hamadi 83’), Hutchinson (Chaplin 89’), Szmodics (Harness 72’), Greaves, Luongo (Taylor 72’), Tuanzebe (Edmundson 89’)
Unused subs: Walton, Cajuste, Burgess, Townsend
Player of the Match
There were notable mentions – Rico Lewis shone again and Savinho impressed on his home debut but the award simply has to go to Erling Haaland.
The star striker is simply unstoppable in front of goal as he hit a clinical hat-trick and powered to 94 goals for City in just over two seasons.
Stunning stuff.
Hero’s welcome for Gundo
City’s take on England’s classic football song ‘Three Lions’ proved a smash hit at the Etihad today – and with good reason.
‘He’s coming home, he’s coming home, he’s coming, Gundo’s coming home’ roared the home faithful as Ilkay Gundogan took to the pitch for the final 20 minutes.
Gundogan has always been a fan favourite at City and the rousing reception he received showed that the love still runs deep despite a year away.
It was a truly magical moment.
MANAGER REACTION
On the result: “It was a good game.
“We started really well. With the transition they made a good goal but we played really, really well.
“I am really pleased to start the season that way.”
On Erling Haaland‘s treble: “He is so reliable on penalties. Assist for the second, fantastic for the third.
“Last season he struggled a lot, especially at the beginning. He felt tired and niggles most of the time.
“This time with the rest with no Euros he has arrived with a good vibe. The numbers are unbelievable.”
HAALAND REACTION
“The first game of the season at home so we all looked forward to it.
“I’m happy to start this way.
“We tried to get one more goal, it didn’t happen until the end.
“We’re happy with the win and that’s what is important.”
Gundogan reaction
“Yesterday, I trained for the first time with the boys and it honestly feels like I’ve never been away and it feels like home. It’s such a joy.
“I have so much happiness to play again for this amazing club in front of this amazing crowd with these amazing players. I feel very privileged.
“I kind of expected that with a good result today that it would be an amazing day. Luckily it turned out like that.
“I could not have wished for a better start. I’m very proud to be back and to be with the people here with all these memories. Hopefully we can try to make better and new memories for the future.”
WHAT IT MEANS
It’s been a perfect start to the 2024/25 season for the champions.
Two games. Two wins. And all without Rodri.
On a side note, today’s victory also means we have now won 18 of our last 19 Premier League games against newly-promoted sides, our last defeat seeing a 2-1 home loss to Leeds in April 2021.
Next Fixture
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WHAT NEXT
Our next assignment is a Premier League away day at West Ham United.
We take on Julen Lopetegui’s side on Saturday 31 August, with a 17:30 (UK) kick-off.
We’ve not lost on the road to the Hammers for 10 years, winning six and drawing three in that time.
We won 3-1 at the London Stadium last time out, James Ward-Prowse opening the scoring before goals from Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland settled the game in our favour.
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