Nightmare for keeper but Haaland's in dreamland

CITY CASH IN ON MURIC HORROR SHOW

- Steve Bates

MAN CITY ... 4
Haaland 12 (pen), 16, 88, DeBruyne 14

IPSWICH ...... 1
Szmodics 7

AS car crash Premier League debuts go, Ipswich goalkeeper Arijanet Muric will take some beating after his Etihad horror show.

Facing the might of Pep Guardiola’s four-in-a-row champions is a daunting task at the best of times.

And when yesterday’s hat-trick hero Erling Haaland smells goals it’s time to batten down the hatches.

On their first league visit to City for 24 years the Ipswich task was already formidable.

So making his bow after a £15 million move from Burnley, Muric – four years a City player, who made Carabao Cup appearances under Guardiola – needed to be cool and focused.

Instead, the 25-year-old – who hit the headlines last season with a high-profile howler for Burnley at Brighton – imploded with a two-minute meltdown that condemned Kieran McKenna’s team to defeat.

With the score at 1-1 after a fast start from both sides, Muric instantly killed the optimistic mood of the travelling fans behind his goal.