Haaland rounds on Donnarumma as City's perfect start ends in defeat at Villa

Erling Haaland publicly berated goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma during Manchester City’s 2-1 Premier League defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday, with footage showing the striker gesturing angrily at the Italian to return to his goal in the first half — before Donnarumma’s second-half error proved decisive.

Nicolas Jackson gave Villa the lead inside six minutes, capitalising on a Marc Guehi mistake to fire home. Haaland levelled with a header from an Iliman Ndiaye cross in the 52nd minute, but Jackson struck again on the hour, his powerful shot squirming under Donnarumma and into the net to restore Villa’s advantage and ultimately seal the win.

The flashpoint with Donnarumma had come earlier, in the 33rd minute, when City conceded a free-kick after Guehi brought down Jackson. Donnarumma stepped off his line to protest the decision to the referee, and Haaland — visibly irritated — was seen gesturing sharply at the 27-year-old, appearing to order him back into position. Johan Manzambi put the free-kick over, so no immediate damage was done, but the tension between the two players foreshadowed what was to come.

The defeat ended City’s perfect start to the Premier League season, having won all seven of their previous league fixtures. Enzo Maresca’s side had travelled to Villa Park looking to make it eight wins from eight.

Speaking after the match, Maresca acknowledged that both goals were avoidable. “Absolutely, both,” he said. “Sometimes you have to be a bit more lucky because we only conceded those two chances, but we created a lot of chances. We played most of the game in their box.”

“But you have to be clinical and avoid mistakes like the two goals we conceded. The overall performance was good. Second half, we conceded in transition. We needed to defend that a little better and be a little bit luckier in that transition but that is football. We will learn from that.”