OMAR MARMOUSH clearly got the hump when they billed this as a shoot-out between the nation’s deadliest duo – and didn’t mean him.
It was supposedly an afternoon that would be decided by the deadly boots of Erling Haaland and Alexander Isak.
A day when the Premier League’s finest two finishers went head to head in a personal duel to see who ended the weekend in fourth place.
And yes, I know Mo Salah has more goals than both of them, but in terms of out and out centre forwards and goals-per-shot, these are the big two, believe me.
But not yesterday they weren’t. For while the Etihad was blown away by a goalscoring blitzkrieg, it wasn’t a Scandanavian hat-trick which had them on their feet.
Instead it was an Egyptian who wowed the crowd…a man who hadn’t scored a goal for City before yesterday.
Admittedly this was only the fourth time Marmoush has started since his January arrival from Eintracht Frankfurt.
And true, he did have a strike rate of more than one every other game for the Germans, so we’re hardly talking a man who doesn’t know his way to the goal here.
But regardless of all that, merely opening his account would have been good enough. Instead it became a day City’s latest top gunner will never forget. He won’t be the only one.
Even Haaland, to be fair, even if he did draw a blank…he’ll always look back on it as the day Pep Guardiola gave him the armband and he skippered the side for the first time.
BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS
Not too many others who were here will remember it for that, mind. For them it will be all about the first time Marmoush proved their Norwegian hitman is not the only hot shot in town.
Newcastle certainly found that to their cost, on an afternoon when – amazingly – City won three home Premier League games on the bounce for the first time this term.
It’s been that sort of season for the four-time champions. One which has become unforgettable for all the wrong reasons.
Yesterday Marmoush went some way to giving a memory which, however it ends three months from now, will at least give a couple of reasons to grin.
Three of them, to be precise. Unless you were of a Toon persuasion of course…Marmoush wiped the smile of Geordie faces with three deadly strikes in 15 devastating minutes.
The first of them came thanks to a record-breaking assist from Ederson, with a down-town punt from ten yards outside his own box.
Kieran Trippier was in the right position to deal with it, but instead of holding his ground, leapt for the header and never got close.
Instead the ball cleared him by a yard – and Martin Dubravka’s by even more – as Marmoush lobbed the Toon keeper for his first.
It was the SIXTH assist from the Brazilian boot of Ederson – a Premier League record for a goalkeeper.
Five minutes later City had doubled up as the Egyptian struck again – and once more Trippier was the closest defender to him. Not that this one was down to him.
It was more down to an assassin’s-eye finish from the striker, when Ilkay Gundogan strolled into midfield space and picked him out a couple of yards into the Newcastle box.
Marmoush took it in his stride, stepped smartly across Trippier and drilled a laser-like finish into the bottom corner.
Sure, he shouldn’t have been given anything like the room he was, so deep into Toon territory. But don’t let that disguise the fact it was despatched in clinical fashion.
City were coasting, Newcastle chaotic…and a couple of years ago that would have effectively made it game over in less than half an hour.
But after losing FIVE games when they have taken the lead already, certainly no chickens were being counted by City yet. It would take at least one more before anyone risked that.
On 32 minutes it duly arrived, as well. No prizes for the goalscorer either – it was a King Midas afternoon for Marmoush.
Golden touch number three was down to the dazzling, darting feet of Savinho, weaving such a path en route to the byline that poor Lewis Hall was in danger of getting twisted blood.
The Brazilian picked out Marmoush, who had pulled into space near the penalty spot, and he brought up the treble with a first time side-foot.
Job done for City, job done for the Egyptian, who got the standing ovation you’d expect when Guardiola gave him the final 14 minutes in the dugout.
Still time, though, for James McAtee to add a fourth, volleying in from bang in front when Haaland flicked on a Gundogan corner.
All of which means at least City will head to Spain with spirits high, as they take on that daunting task of overturning last week’s first leg Champions League loss to Real Madrid on Wednesday.
Still one hell of a mountain to climb of course, but with Marmoush in this form you never know…Liverpool aren’t the only ones with an Egyptian king after all.
