Manchester City beat United on penalties to win the Community Shield
Though few will recall anything about the Community Shield by the end of August, Manchester City relished taking home the opening round victory. They saw United win the FA Cup final in May, but they rallied late and played the coolest from the penalty spot.
Eleven weeks following United's unexpected triumph, which
ultimately retained Erik ten Hag in the team, Wembley provided a steamy setting
for another derby played at a pace that solidified this game's classification
as a friendly rather than a major trophy. In contrast to May, City had a better
start. Oscar Bobb ignited the game from the right side, cheerfully searching
for openings to dribble through and assuage worries about Julián Álvarez's
impending departure by demonstrating that Pep Guardiola had an abundance of weapons
at his disposal.
After an outstanding preseason tour, Guardiola began
19-year-old Nico O'Reilly, which was essentially the beginning of a learning
process. He exuded confidence when in possession, but it makes sense that his
decision-making was below that of a first-team player; this is something he
will work on. Their only summer addition, Savinho, added a good cameo late in
the game to complement City's wingers' impressive showing. The two greatest
threats for a fairly subpar three behind Erling Haaland were Jérémy Doku and
Bobb, the latter of whom set up the equalizer. After City capitalized on a
mistake at the back, James McAtee, the third offensive midfielder, had the
opportunity to open the scoring, but he struck the inside of the post rather
than the goal.
After leading for the first thirty minutes, City eventually
got some momentum when Amad Diallo scored from the right. With a few strange
drops of the shoulder, the Ivorian found his way through the City maze and
arrived at the box. Diallo's decision to send the ball into Mason Mount for a
tap-in goal instead of forcing the midfielder to take the required two steps
forward allowed City to survive despite a one-two with Casemiro that should
have resulted in a goal.
At last, in the 54th minute, Bruno Fernandes's two touches
and curling shot from 20 yards out caused the stadium to erupt in cheers.
Unfortunately for the Portuguese and fans in the red half of Wembley, he
started his run offside, meaning that an absolutely incredible goal was disallowed.
Another cheer was heard shortly after as a young fan ran on to greet Marcus
Rashford before a steward led him away.
The action was getting more and more boring until United
made a quick move up the field. Fernandes found Garnacho in space down the
right, and he was able to pick out Rashford, who had only Ederson standing in
his way but struck the post to bring the game closer to penalties. The forward,
who is still reflecting on his lack of success from the previous campaign,
appeared unconfident the entire time. Even with the miss, it showed that United
was winning and had the extra energy to complete the task in ninety minutes.
Ultimately, Garnacho made the decision to handle everything
alone. He entered from the right and fired with his left foot into the bottom
corner. A player who turned 20 in July and celebrated with a Copa América
victory displayed class at that moment.
With two minutes remaining, Savinho and Bobb collaborated not to be outdone.
The game would be decided from 12 yards out when the latter turned and chipped
to the back post where Silva was positioned to head home.
In the shootout, Silva lacked precision, giving André Onana a simple save to
his left, but Ederson made sure that the score was even after five goals apiece
by stopping Jadon Sancho and adding a goal of his own. Great calm prevailed
until Evans lofted the ball over the bar, setting up Akanji—who had missed in
the Euros against England—to square the score and get some atonement.