Soccer-City's flying start comes at a cost, with Haaland limping off

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Ipswich Town - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - October 17, 2026 Manchester City's Erling Haaland celebrates scoring their third goal REUTERS/Ian Hodgson

MANCHESTER, England, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Manchester City maintained ⁠their perfect Premier League start with a 3-2 win over Ipswich Town on Saturday, but the sight of a badly limping Erling Haaland heading ⁠straight down the tunnel added another concern to those already hanging over the club.

City are appealing a ruling that they breached 114 ‌Premier League financial rules and deny wrongdoing, but the uncertainty off the pitch has done little to disrupt them on it. Enzo Maresca's side have won seven league games from seven for their best-ever start to a Premier League season.

Maresca became the first manager to win his opening seven Premier League games in charge as City bounced back from Wednesday's Champions League defeat by Paris St ​Germain, his first meaningful loss as City boss.

Haaland struck twice after Phil Foden's first goal of ⁠the season had been cancelled out by Daizen Maeda, with ⁠the Norwegian's second his 100th non-penalty Premier League goal, reached in a record 139 appearances.

He was denied a hat-trick by an offside in the build-up before ⁠Zian ‌Flemming's stoppage-time penalty made the scoreline closer than the game felt.

But victory came at a potentially heavy cost during a punishing stretch of four games in 10 days.

While Maresca had made six changes to his team from Wednesday, Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes and Nico O'Reilly all went off injured, while Antoine ⁠Semenyo was also limping badly at the final whistle.

"Unfortunately, in 10 minutes, we had four, ​five players (hurt)," Maresca said. "I don't have any news at ‌the moment."

Haaland made a beeline for the tunnel rather than staying to applaud supporters, unusual for the striker, with Semenyo hobbling off not ⁠far behind.

"I don't know (Haaland's ​injury)," Maresca said. "I asked him. He said that he was okay. So hopefully, it's nothing serious."

The uncertainty surrounding City has hardly dampened the mood among their supporters, who were in defiant voice at the Etihad as a stadium-record 60,817 watched the game.

They loudly booed the Premier League anthem before kick-off and waved inflatable bananas, reviving a City tradition dating from their ⁠days outside the top flight in the 1980s.

Supporters turned the prospect of possible relegation ​as a sanction into gallows humour, chanting "You're going down with the City!" at the travelling Ipswich fans.

Outside the stadium, vendors did brisk business selling bananas and T-shirts carrying anti-charge slogans, including "Stick your charges where the sun don't shine" and "City til I die."

"The environment was very good," Maresca said. "They just said to me that today was a record ⁠attendance, so that's also a nice thing. The fans, the club, the players, we are all together in this journey, and this is the best feeling for everyone."

Maresca has said several times since the team reconvened after the international break that he has instructed his players to shut out external criticism as the club appeals the guilty verdict.

Captain Ruben Dias said earlier in the week that "it's almost impossible to avoid seeing something, even us being as private as we can be ​and just doing our own lives on your phone. It's impossible to avoid everything."

Maresca praised his players for their ⁠focus.

"The players, they need to be worried about people inside the club and about me for the credit I give to them, and they are not worried about ​people that can judge them from outside.

"But inside, I promise you that the players they are happy. ‌The club gives credit to the players. I give credit to the players. ​So this is for us the most important thing."

Asked about managing against City with everything that has happened off the pitch, Ipswich boss Gary O'Neil shrugged and said: "No. Just us against City trying to win. Bananas, no bananas, makes no difference."

(Reporting by Lori Ewing, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

Thank you for your report!

足球 - 英超联赛 - 曼城对阵伊普斯维奇 - 英国曼彻斯特伊蒂哈德球场 - 2026年10月17日 曼城球员埃尔林·哈兰德庆祝打入球队第三球 路透社/伊恩·霍奇森

英格兰曼彻斯特，10 月 17 日（路透社）——曼城周六以 3-2 战胜伊普斯维奇，保持了他们在英超联赛的完美开局，但埃尔林·哈兰德一瘸一拐地直接走向球员通道的景象，又给那些已经对俱乐部感到担忧的人们增添了一个新的担忧。

曼城正在就其违反英超联赛第114条财务规则的裁决提出上诉，并否认有任何不当行为。但场外的不确定性并未对他们在场上的表现造成太大影响。恩佐·马雷斯卡的球队在联赛中取得了七连胜，创造了队史最佳的英超开局。

马雷斯卡成为首位执教后取得英超联赛开局七连胜的主教练，曼城也从周三欧冠联赛负于巴黎圣日耳曼的失利中迅速反弹，那也是他作为曼城主帅遭遇的首场真正意义上的失利。

哈兰德梅开二度，此前菲尔·福登打入本赛季首球，但随后前田大善扳平比分。哈兰德的第二个进球是他职业生涯的第100个非点球英超进球，他在139次出场中达到了这一里程碑。

在进攻发起阶段，他因越位而错失了上演帽子戏法的机会，随后齐安·弗莱明在伤停补时阶段的点球让比分比比赛实际感觉更加接近。

但这场胜利也可能付出了沉重的代价，因为接下来的 10 天里他们要进行四场比赛。

尽管马雷斯卡对周三的阵容进行了六处调整，但马特奥·科瓦契奇、马特乌斯·努内斯和尼科·奥雷利都因伤离场，而安托万·塞梅尼奥在终场​​哨响时也一瘸一拐的。

“不幸的是，短短十分钟内，我们就有四五名球员受伤了，”马雷斯卡说。“目前我还没有任何消息。”

哈兰德没有像往常那样留下来向球迷鼓掌，而是径直走向球员通道，这对于这位前锋来说很不寻常，而塞梅尼奥也一瘸一拐地跟在后面离开了。

“我不知道（哈兰德的伤情），”马雷斯卡说。“我问过他，他说他没事。所以希望没什么大碍。”

尽管曼城前景不明朗，但这丝毫没有影响到他们的球迷，他们在伊蒂哈德球场发出了充满斗志的声音，创纪录的 60,817 名观众观看了这场比赛。

在比赛开始前，他们大声嘘英超联赛的队歌，并挥舞着充气香蕉，重现了曼城自 20 世纪 80 年代还在顶级联赛之外时就有的传统。

球迷们将可能降级的前景转化为黑色幽默，对着远道而来的伊普斯维奇球迷高喊“你们要和曼城一起降级了！”。

体育场外，小贩们生意兴隆，出售香蕉和印有反控球标语的 T 恤，包括“把你的控球球塞到太阳照不到的地方”和“至死不渝的城市”。

“现场气氛非常好，”马雷斯卡说。“他们告诉我，今天的上座率创下了纪录，这也很棒。球迷、俱乐部、球员，我们所有人一起踏上这段旅程，这对每个人来说都是最美好的感觉。”

马雷斯卡在国际比赛日后球队重新集结后多次表示，他已指示球员们屏蔽外界批评，因为俱乐部正在对有罪判决提出上诉。

鲁本·迪亚斯上尉本周早些时候表示：“即使我们尽可能地保护隐私，只用手机过自己的生活，也几乎不可能完全避免看到一些东西。不可能完全避开所有事情。”

马雷斯卡称赞球员们的专注精神。

“球员们应该关心俱乐部内部的人，也应该关心我给予他们的荣誉，而不是那些可以从外部评判他们的人。”

“但我向你保证，球员们内心很开心。俱乐部认可球员们的努力，我也认可球员们的努力。所以这对我们来说才是最重要的。”

当被问及在场外发生这么多事情的情况下如何应对与曼城的比赛时，伊普斯维奇主教练加里·奥尼尔耸了耸肩说：“没有。我们只是和曼城比赛，努力赢球。有没有香蕉都无所谓。”

（Lori Ewing报道，Pritha Sarkar编辑）

感谢您的报告！