In the Community Shield between Manchester City and Arsenal FC, it looked like the Skyblues would win another title until deep into injury time – then a Gunners’ joker scored. The reigning triple winners finally lost their nerve in the penalty shoot-out.
In England, the first title of the new season was already awarded on Sunday afternoon. In the Community Shield (English Super Cup), Manchester City met Arsenal FC. The Gunners had several newcomers in the starting eleven: Besides Havertz, who formed the attack with Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, Rice also started in midfield.
Pep Guardiola relied on ex-Bielefeld player Ortega Moreno in goal, as he often does in cup competitions. In addition, of course, Haaland was in attack, de Bruyne was only on the bench for the time being, but newcomer Kovacic was in the starting eleven in central midfield.
City with lots of possession – Rodri just misses
City started dominantly as well as with a lot of possession. The Skyblues ran the ball through their own ranks and had more than 80 per cent possession in the early stages, but were unable to convert this into a top chance. The best and only chance came from Rodri when the ball whizzed just wide on the left (15th).
Havertz misses two great chances
After around 20 minutes, the Gunners came into the game better, no longer exclusively running behind. Instead, Arteta’s side kept the game open. Arsenal continued to concede little and made their mark offensively through their quick wingers: Havertz had two great chances to take the lead, but failed to score against Ortega Moreno in good positions (26th, 41st).
In a rather uneventful but tactical first half, City came to the fore again just before the break in the person of Rodri. But as his artistic shot from the halfway line hit the net (44th), the game went into the dressing room goalless.
Few highlights at Wembley
Highlights were also scarce after the change of ends. While the slightly better Gunners failed to get the last pass in, the Skyblues lacked the sparkling idea in many situations to pose Arsenal real problems. The City attack around Haaland, Grealish, Alvarez and Bernardo Silva, which is usually so goal-threatening, hardly ever made an appearance worth mentioning. This was also due to the fact that the reigning runners-up defended with great concentration.
Palmer scores fantastically
The Wembley crowd had to wait until the closing stages for a real chance in the second half, but then, as is often the case, the individual class of the Citizens showed itself: A little out of nowhere, substitute Palmer appeared free on the right side of the sixteen and flicked the ball into the left-hand corner (77th).
Trossard’s lucky punch in the 101st minute
In the following minutes Guardiola’s team was much closer to 2-0 than Arsenal to an equaliser: Foden (83rd) and Rodri (84th) both failed due to a brilliant save by Ramsdale. The Gunners were only rarely dangerous in the final third in the long injury time – until the 101st minute: In this minute, the substitute Trossard took a shot from the second row, Akanji got in the way and deflected decisively, so that the ball hit the half-right of the box.
So it went to penalties, in which the Gunners, unlike the Skyblues, held their nerve. While Ödegaard, Trossard, Saka and Fabio Vieira all scored for the Londoners, de Bruyne (crossbar) and Rodri (Ramsdale) failed to score for the Citizens. The first title of the new season went to Arsenal FC.
