Manchester City opened their 2026/27 Premier League campaign the way Pep Guardiola teams have made a habit of doing: by making the final minutes of a football match feel like a hostage negotiation. Trailing 1-0 to Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium on August 23, City scored twice in the closing stages, with Josko Gvardiol’s stoppage-time winner initially flagged for offside before VAR stepped in and confirmed the goal.
The final score: Manchester City 2, AFC Bournemouth 1. It was the kind of result that looks routine on paper and anything but for anyone who watched it unfold.
A Bournemouth lead and a City fightback
Bournemouth did what teams visiting the Etihad rarely manage to do with conviction: they took the lead and held it for nearly an hour. Marcus Tavernier found the net in the 26th minute, and for the better part of 58 minutes after that, Andoni Iraola’s side looked like they might pull off a genuine opening-day upset.
That changed in the 84th minute when Rayan Cherki delivered a pass that Marc Guehi converted to level the match at 1-1.
