Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City tenure opened with the kind of late drama the Etihad has made its own, two goals in the final seven minutes turning defeat into a 2-1 win over Bournemouth on Sunday.
Marcus Tavernier had put the visitors ahead on 26 minutes and City, wasteful throughout, were heading for an embarrassment before Marc Guehi headed in Rayan Cherki’s corner six minutes from time. Cherki then slipped Josko Gvardiol through in stoppage time, VAR overturning an offside flag to confirm the winner.
According to Sky Sports, it was City’s youngest opening-day XI since 2008, with Guehi deployed in midfield and Nico O’Reilly pushed up alongside Erling Haaland in a system that looked unbalanced for an hour.
Maresca becomes Manchester City’s first Italian manager since Roberto Mancini
Maresca is the first of his countrymen to take charge at City since Mancini, who returned to Italy as head coach earlier in the summer.
Maresca’s only managerial job in Italy, 14 games at a relegated Parma in 2021, ended badly, and remains the outlier on a CV that now carries Championship, Conference League and Club World Cup titles after spells with Leicester and Chelsea.
