Tijjani Reijnders reacts to five-star display in Manchester City’s thrashing of Wolves | OneFootball

Manchester City midfielder Tijjani Reijnders has reacted to his man-of-the-match performance in his side’s 4-0 opening day win over Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday evening.

The 26-year-old, who joined City from AC Milan for £47 million in June, scored in the first half and was instrumental in each of Erling Haaland’s goals as Pep Guardiola’s side made a strong start to the 2025-26 Premier League campaign.

With Manchester City beginning a new season without Kevin De Bruyne for the first time since 2015, Reijnders assumed the role of architect-in-chief as he sliced open the Wolves defence with a clever dribble and brilliant chipped through ball to Rico Lewis, who found Erling Haaland to tap it home for City’s opener just after 30 minutes.

Three minutes on, Reijnders was on the scoresheet himself as he finished a devastating Manchester City break launched by Oscar Bobb, beating Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa on his far post, to formally announce himself to English football.

Manchester City have secured the arrival of one of Europe’s best and most complete midfielders this summer, with newly-appointed director of football Hugo Viana believed to have played a crucial role in the signing of Reijnders.

The Netherlands international was a constant menace for Wolves, who were no match to Reijnders’ movement and ability to find space, with Manchester City’s fears of missing Ballon d’Or winner Rodri to injury alleviated quite early into the campaign by their new star.

Reijnders turned provider for Haaland for Manchester City’s third as he once again linked with Bobb on the right wing and broke into the Wolves box, pulling the ball back to a racing Haaland, whose ferocious low effort scraped past Sa to put the game to bed.

Rayan Cherki came off the bench to himself score a stunning goal on his Premier League debut, rounding off as good an opening day victory as Guardiola could have hoped for following a mixed bag of fortunes at the FIFA Club World Cup in the summer.

Speaking to Sky Sports after his full Premier League debut, Reijnders said: “It’s a really nice start to start with a goal and an assist. Especially in the Premier League, it’s the thing you’ve always dreamt about. Starting like this, it can’t be better!

“I’m always going on the pitch with a smile, I love playing football and enjoy every minute on the pitch. This is what I want to show to the fans. Starting like this is unbelievable.”

Manchester City fans will be counting their lucky stars after witnessing the latest of Reijnders’ heroics on the pitch, with the midfielder also having netted a 45 minute brace in last week’s pre-season friendly win over Palermo in Italy.

With Rodri unfit and key games against Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham on the horizon, Reijnders will be instrumental for Manchester City in the subsequent run of games after what social media is hailing as the one of the greatest Premier League debuts ever.