Manchester City outclassed Chelsea 2-0 thanks to goals either side of half-time from Sergio Aguero in the 2018 Community Shield at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, in a highly-anticipated match that failed to live up to the hype.
The scoreline didn’t do justice to Pep Guardiola’s men, for after Aguero had scored his 200th goal in a Sky Blues shirt with just 13 minutes on the clock, there was always going to be one winner on the night.
Maurizio Sarri’s appointment in West London had been met with snorts of derision in some quarters, but after an encouraging pre-season, the Blues faithful had begun to hope that their new head coach would do something similar to what his Catalan counterpart had done for City.
However, after 90 minutes in the English capital, it’s clear that ‘Sarrismo’ will not be an overnight revolution.
Summer recruit Jorginho, impressive so far in pre-season, looked off the pace and was quite sloppy in his first game on English soil as a Chelsea player.
He wasn’t the only one, for the likes of David Luiz, Alvaro Morata and Pedro too failed to impress while Benjamin Mendy, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and Aguero starred for the Manchester outfit.
Foden set up Aguero after driving at the Chelsea defence and the Argentine striker made the most of his start ahead of Gabriel Jesus by firing Guardiola’s men into the lead.
City were in complete control from then on and while the Blues did see some off the ball, the Citizens had them were they wanted.
Barring one incident right at the end, when he made life difficult for himself, rarely did Claudio Bravo get called into action.
Leroy Sane was among the few City players who struggled to have an impact in the first 45 minutes and, presumably due to a knock, was substituted after the interval.
It was much of the same in the second period as well, with Chelsea youngster Callum Hudson-Odoi struggling to make the most of his start, but with senior players like Morata and Pedro looking clueless, it would be harsh to single out the 17-year-old.
Things at the back weren’t looking good either, for David Luiz’s lack of pace was woefully exposed time and again.
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Aguero was in the mood and he got his second on the night when Silva’s deft pass released him and the Argentine’s low shot beat Caballero to put the result of the game beyond doubt two minutes before the hour mark.
Both managers rung in the changes, but if anything, City looked even more dangerous and on another day, Aguero would have scored four.
With less than a week to go for the 2018/19 Premier League, City are looking pretty but Chelsea’s display at Wembley will have fans fearing the worst.
There’s still time in the window to make a few signings and Sarri may well be tempted to hunt for a central defender, midfielder and perhaps even a forward.