Guardiola hails opening victory at Chelsea as ´big step´ for Man City

Pep Guardiola was left both relieved and pleased as Manchester City overcame Chelsea on Sunday to banish last season’s Stamford Bridge demons.

City and the Blues played out a chaotic 4-4 draw in the corresponding fixture last term, but no such issues were present on matchday one of 2024-25 as Guardiola’s side kicked off with three points.

Erling Haaland delivered a well-taken opener on his 100th competitive appearance for City, with his 91st goal for the club paving the way for a routine triumph.

Mateo Kovacic put the result beyond all doubt six minutes from time, powering forward before steering an eye-catching finish into the top-left corner against his former club.

With key midfielder Rodri absent after a late return to training and Phil Foden only fit enough to appear from the bench, Guardiola was satisfied to see his team pass their first test of the campaign.

“I didn’t expect it. We are away from our best so three points is the good news. The bad news is we have 65 games ahead of us,” he told Sky Sports after the full-time whistle.

“We have an advantage, it’s our ninth season together so we know each other well. Of course, there are mistakes you have to improve on but we talked, the difference in being champions was our body language, how did we behave?

“It’s the bad moments in the season and in the games that define the big teams. For me, it is an honour to be in charge of these guys. I’m so fortunate, I could not say more.

“There is a plan, defensive, offensive. But afterwards, it’s how we celebrate the good moments and come back from the bad moments.

“That’s what defines these teams and no one talks about it. For a while, we could never win at Stamford Bridge – this is a big step.”

10 – Manchester City have won each of their last 10 Premier League matches, scoring at least two goals in each victory. Indeed, they have more 10-game win streaks than any other side in the competition (7). Humming. pic.twitter.com/2aD9VngDfI

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 18, 2024

Across the last three seasons, Haaland has scored two more Premier League goals in August (13) than Chelsea have managed as a team (11), and four more than rivals Manchester United have scored (nine).

The Norway striker could have had a second after the break if not for a smart Robert Sanchez stop, before his foul on Levi Colwill saw a finish from the impressive Rico Lewis disallowed.

Yet a routine victory was hardly expected for the visitors, considering they started without Rodri, whose influence on Guardiola’s team remains seismic.

Prior to this clash, City had lost just six of 102 matches when Rodri had started since the start of the 2022-23 season, as many defeats as they had suffered in 18 games without him.

Guardiola warned records are there to be broken, however, as the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss hailed the influence of Rodri’s replacement Kovacic.

“Be careful with statistics with us because we break it,” Guardiola told BBC’s Match of the Day.

“Rodri is massively important for us so it’s important to have Mateo here because he is an experienced player and a great person. He made a good performance.”