It will not win goal of the season, it was not even goal of the game, not even close.
It was not the goal of his hat-trick, it did not even reach the back of the net. But the moment that told you exactly why Manchester City are near-certainties to retain their Premier League title came when Erling Haaland rose to meet Kevin De Bruyne’s routine in-swinging corner to head the first of his three goals.
The team that seemed to have all dimensions sorted has added another one. Haaland has turned a great team into a near-unstoppable one. He can score that run-of-the-mill goal, that header from a corner, he gives City another option - a direct option - as though they needed another option.
It goes without saying that if he stays fit for most of the season, he will break all manner of records. When De Bruyne is doing the prompting, it almost feels like cheating, the pair of them reducing a good opponent to rubble in as good a half of one-sided football as you are likely to see.
This was a brilliant all-round performance from the champions, make no mistake. Phil Foden’s three crisp finishes - for City’s first, fourth and sixth goals - were symptomatic of his sumptuous overall contribution.
Foden might not have had a better game in a City jersey - and that is saying something. At the back, Manuel Akanji looked impressive for a long time while Jack Grealish probably had one of his most effective games since joining at the start of last season, albeit still deficient in the end-product department.
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Martin Rickett/PA Wire)And as for De Bruyne, what can you say? The superlatives have run dry. One day, he might even win a Player of the Month award.
The man of the match prize here could have been given to any of at least half a dozen City players but there was one man who towered above these proceedings - the man who leapt to double City’s lead after Foden had converted Bernardo Silva’s cross, the man who gave the most beautiful of De Bruyne assists the finish it deserved to put City three up, the man who then fizzed a sensational pass into the path of Foden for number four before half-time.
Ahead of the match, Pep Guardiola joked that he had told Haaland “to score five goals”. The City manager had to settle for three from his striker and a couple of assists for good measure.
After Antony had struck sweetly for United early in the second half, Haaland thumped in a Sergio Gomez pass and then clipped another assist for Foden, whose crisp, left-footed conversion meant he became the first person to score a hat-trick in a Manchester derby since Erling Haaland nine minutes earlier.
By the time substitute Anthony Martial nodded in one consolation and scored another from the penalty spot after he had been fouled by Joao Cancelo, it had become a glorious non-event for the home side.
Haaland had survived Guardiola’s round of replacements and was the last to leave the field, joined for his final round of acclaim by De Bruyne. Some pairing, some side. And the striker who does the ordinary brilliantly is making this team extraordinary.
