Enzo Fernández Scores First Manchester City Goal With a Disguised Free Kick

Enzo Fernández has finally scored his first Manchester City goal, and he got it by making Sunderland's goalkeeper defend the wrong thing entirely.

City took the lead inside nine minutes at the Etihad on Sunday, after Fernández stood over a free kick from a tight angle just to the side of the box.

He shaped up to cross it, the standard ball from that position, and Sunderland keeper Robin Roefs was set up for exactly that.

That left Fernández a small window at the near post: if Roefs committed to the delivery he was expecting, he'd have to react late to anything hit at goal instead.

Instead, Fernández curled a direct shot at goal. Roefs, still braced for a cross into the middle, had no chance to reset, and the ball was in before he could move.

A wild afternoon at the Etihad

That goal turned out to be just the opening move in an eight-goal thriller. City finished 5-3 winners, but Sunderland's Brian Brobbey scored a hat-trick and still ended up on the losing side.

He's the first Sunderland player to manage that in the Premier League since Jermain Defoe in 2016.

City took the lead three times before half-time, through Fernández, Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo, while Brobbey twice brought Sunderland level.

Semenyo added a second after half-time, Brobbey completed his hat-trick to make it 4-3, and Erling Haaland settled it late, scoring against the one Premier League side he'd never managed to beat before.

The result took City to the top of the table, three points clear of Arsenal, on a seventh straight win in all competitions heading into the international break.

In the league specifically, City have now won all five of their matches, the only perfect record left in the division.

Arsenal's own perfect start ended the day before, beaten 3-0 away at Brighton, a result that halted their nine-game league winning run and dropped the champions off top spot.

The goal Fernández needed after his £125m move

Fernández's move to City was a joint British transfer record, with the midfielder arriving from Chelsea for £125m on deadline day, after a saga we followed from the Chelsea side as it dragged into the final minutes of the window.

His City career didn't start smoothly either. He was originally named among the substitutes for his debut against Coventry, only for a late injury to Nico O'Reilly in the warm-up to push him into the starting XI instead.

He played 76 minutes and set up Erling Haaland's winner in the build-up, but a goal of his own had been missing until now.

There's a reunion running through all of it. Maresca managed Fernández at Chelsea before taking the Manchester City job this summer, and it's under his old boss that Fernández has finally opened his account in sky blue.

There's another thread running through City's midfield too. Elliot Anderson and Fernández were on opposite sides of Argentina's World Cup semi-final win over England this summer. Now, a few months on from that, the two are working together for their club.

After setting up a goal on his first appearance and starting three matches since, Fernández now has a goal of his own to go with it, and he got it by selling Sunderland's goalkeeper a cross that never came.