Manchester City could not play through their pain barrier. As a run of 32 Premier League matches unbeaten came to its end, they creaked. Ageing, tired legs were asked to chase – in vain – an opponent full of energy and a belief so rarely in evidence against the serial champions. For once, Pep Guardiola’s team fell short.
Bournemouth were brilliant, victory wholly deserved, Antoine Semenyo dazzling. He demoted Kyle Walker to the doghouse, City’s captain left with twisted blood. “It feels amazing,” said the star man. “The best team in the world!”
To be even-handed to Walker, he had answered his manager’s call for the walking wounded to stand up when his fitness is way below the desired level. City’s starting selection bordered on the awesome but masked the depth of their casualty list. The bench even featured Kevin De Bruyne, unseen since September, and Savinho, who tearfully departed Tottenham in midweek on a stretcher. Neither came on, even when emergency beckoned.
“We knew we couldn’t match the intensity,” lamented Guardiola. “They are so aggressive. They scored early, and they could have scored earlier.”
Bournemouth had flown at the contest, right from the whistle. Before the first goal, Ederson had already made a spectacular double save from Semenyo and then Justin Kluivert. Soon enough, Milos Kerkez, overlapping down the left, blazed past Phil Foden and laid up Semenyo. Josko Gvardiol was brushed off as the Ghanaian’s spin and shot beat Ederson all hands down.
The pressure stayed on, City’s midfield exchanges compressed by the energy of their opponents. With arms crossed, Guardiola muddied his black leather brogues as he paced the sidelines. Alongside him, Andoni Iraola, the Basque coach whose trajectory makes him a leading contender to one day succeed the Catalan, was kicking every ball as his team followed up beating Arsenal by deposing the champions. “I have lost so many times against him,” said Iraola of Guardiola. “You have to enjoy it as you know it’s not going to happen often.”
Victory created history: Bournemouth had never beaten a City team over 21 previous meetings. The last time a point was collected was 1999, in the third tier, Joe Royle the City manager, Shaun Goater their centre-forward.
How did it happen? Answer: vigour and proficiency in defence, midfield and attack, plus a fine display from the stand-in goalkeeper, Mark Travers. Kerkez made a last-man block when Bernardo Silva had the goal gaping before Bournemouth saw out the first half with an almost endless sequence of passes. Few teams dominate City in such a fashion.
“You have to suffer, stay compact,” said Iraola. “We suffered after a good game. We know there are better teams than us but it is not easy to play here.”
The second half saw Bournemouth chase another fast start. Semenyo took down a long ball, and Evanilson forced another Ederson save. Signals of a potential City revival eventually began to sound. Foden drifted an effort wide and tempers frayed when Lewis Cook, Bournemouth’s ratter supreme, took out Erling Haaland with a trailing leg.
That Bournemouth retrenched at the hour mark suggested one-way traffic, only for a counter to be triggered in devastating fashion. Semenyo – again – blew past Walker and supplied Kerkez, whose low cross found Evanilson, the striker hooking home. “I am working on crosses and improving,” said Kerkez, his recent performances announcing him as a significant prospect.
Meanwhile, Walker, closest to his manager, was being given constant, terse sideline advice. He was eventually switched to centre-back. “Kyle, 18 days, 19 days without training, one training session with us and today was there,” said Guardiola, afterwards mitigating those Semenyo struggles.
Bournemouth’s lead might have increased further when Marcus Tavernier cracked the inside post but could they now hang on? Travers failed to claw away Gvardiol’s header from Ilkay Gündogan’s cross to set up 10 minutes of tension. Jérémy Doku’s dribbling was thrown into the mix, the Belgian forcing a fine low save from Travers.
Chaos ensued in six minutes added on, Travers saving from Haaland, the ball somehow not crossing the line when Haaland struck the woodwork with his follow-up. Lastly, Foden slapped a shot wide. The champions – ragged, exhausted, dumbfounded – could find nothing more. And Bournemouth could celebrate.
