Sky Blue News: Comeback City, UCL Fixtures Confirmed, Women’s Pre-Season Ends, and More...

The Cardiac Blues come back again! This time all the way back to beat Palace at home. Catch up on all the headlines from an exhilarating Saturday.

Man City 4-2 Crystal Palace: Erling Haaland hat-trick inspires ruthless comeback in Premier League thriller - Charlotte Marsh - Sky Sports

Erling Haaland flashed his incandescent talent in front of the Etihad faithful.

Erling Haaland scored a 19-minute hat-trick to inspire a ruthless Manchester City comeback, coming from 2-0 down at half-time to beat Crystal Palace 4-2 in the Premier League.

The striker netted his first goals at the Etihad since he signed for £51m from Borussia Dortmund earlier in the summer, taking his overall tally to six goals in four league games.

“These games are why I’m here - to turn things around when there are difficult times,” the 22-year-old said.

GUARDIOLA: HAALAND WAS BORN TO SCORE GOALS - David Clayton - ManCity.com

Pep is all of us right now. And it’s more than just the goals. Erling is all-in at City.

Guardiola says he was also impressed by the Norway star’s response to being two goals behind and that he is fast becoming an integral member of the squad.

“I saw his [Haaland’s] body language at 2-0 down and how he encouraged his team-mates,” said Pep.

“That first (goal). I have a feeling that if he is not involved in the game, he is always there. He never runs away from the game.

“As a striker he is incredible. He cannot touch the ball, but he is always involved. The quality for the first goal, the cross is good, and the second, he is there.

Match Report: Manchester City 4-2 Crystal Palace - CITYZENDuck - Bitter and Blue

My take on a tale of two very different halfs of football.

The second half began with Manchester City looking to write a different story. No changes to the line-up were made coming out of the dressing room, and things were looking much the same as the previous half. Ilkay Gundogan and Julian Alvarez could be spotted warming up in earnest along the touch line and looked to be coming on early. And then, what had been a slow, methodical build up became a sudden strike into the back of the Crystal palace net from Bernardo Silva(53’), his 50th in a City shirt.

The game was now on. But still trailing 1-2, Pep brought on Gundo, and La Arna for Riyadh Mahrez and Joao Cancelo in the 61st minute. With the substitution, the shape changed as well. City switched to a back three of Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, and Stones, and Bernardo moved to the right wing as Phil Foden made way on the left for Alvarez and slid into the midfield. City were now effectively playing a 3-4-3, and it made all the difference.

Within a minute of the switch in tactics, City worked the new shape into a menacing attack that culminated with a sumptuous cross into the box by Foden that Erling Haaland(62’) headed deftly past Palace keeper Vicente Guaita. City were now level, and their Norwegian striker was fully involved.

Priceless Bernardo Silva turns Man City discontent into delight - Simon Bajkowski - Manchester Evening News

Amid the Haaland hysteria, it would be easy to overlook brilliant Bernardo.

With so little firepower on the bench, Guardiola was about to make a double change of Ilkay Gundogan and Julian Alvarez minutes into the second half when ‘Barcelona-loving’ Bernardo made his quality count. Preferred in the midfield here to captain Ilkay Gundogan, the Portugal international dragged his team back into the game with a weaving run and shot that was deflected in off Jeffrey Schlupp.

Within ten minutes - and after the double change had been made - Haaland made his first positive contribution of the match by heading home Foden’s cross from the six-yard box after Alvarez had helped the ball on. Haaland was synonymous with the team display: he hadn’t played well up to that point yet suddenly came alive and from nowhere the Etihad was rocking, moans of frustration transformed into roars of encouragement; just like Newcastle, Palace went from looking completely comfortable to hanging on within ten second-half minutes.

They couldn’t hold out for long, and Bernardo and Haaland were there again. The silky midfielder exchanged one-twos with both De Bruyne and Alvarez from a corner before finding Stones to roll the ball across to Haaland for a tap-in. And when the striker left Joel Ward on the floor ten minutes later to complete a sensational hat-trick in another sensational City game (more exciting than the manager would like!) certain defeat had been turned into another cracking victory.

“A proud moment...” - Erling Haaland reacts to first Premier League hat-trick - Harry Winters - City Xtra

Haaland has every right to be proud of a spectacular performance.

Post-match, the 22 year-old reacted to his hat-trick and praised City’s mentality to once again fight back from two goals down.

“Really good feeling. A proud moment for me and my family. We keep going. These games are why I’m here - to turn things around when there are difficult times,” said Haaland.

“[My dad] will probably say he had more goals in the Premier League than me so I will chase that!

“In the end it was about small adjustments. We were almost there sometimes in the first-half so it was about getting it done. This is what we do. It’s a good feeling.

“It’s really important to have this kind of mentality and we should get it even more. There is more we can do on set-pieces. We have to keep working hard.”

OFFICIAL: UCL Group G Fixtures Confirmed - CITYZENDuck - Bitter and Blue

Dates, times, and venues have been confirmed for the 2022 UCL Group Stage.

According to ManCity.com the fixture list will be:

September 6: Sevilla v City 20:00 (UK)

September 14: City v Borussia Dortmund 20:00 (UK)

October 5: City v FC Copenhagen 20:00 (UK)

October 11: FC Copenhagen v City 17:45 (UK)

October 25: Borussia Dortmund v City 20:00 (UK)

November 2: City v Sevilla 20:00 (UK)

As you can see, the matches will be coming thick and fast as the group stage of the UCL is being severely compressed by FIFA World Cup 2022. The good news, we will know City’s fate in the Group stage in just over 2 months.

CITY FINISH PRE-SEASON WITH LIVERPOOL DRAW - Will Dickson - ManCity.com

And finally... City have apparently found their penalty taker on the women’s side. Viva Deyna!!

However, our chance came in the 16th minute as Castellanos broke into the penalty area before being brought down by Flaherty, leaving the referee with little choice but to point to the penalty spot.

Castellanos duly stepped up and though her original effort was saved by Laws, the ball fell back into her path and she struck it into the back of the net.

Following the goal, Liverpool went on the attack in search for an equaliser, but were denied on multiple occasions by the offside flag as our defence stayed organised to withstand their threat.

That’s it Cityzens. Enjoy your Sunday. We’re right back at it tomorrow as we get ready for City to play host to Nottingham Forest.