Our 3️⃣ points as Torres makes history in breathless City win | OneFootball

In a game featuring hat-tricks, penalties, stunning scorpion kicks and VAR, Manchester City won against Newcastle in one of the games of the season on Friday night.

This is what we made of it.

History-making Torres

It has been a stop-start debut season in England for Ferran Torres but he’s finishing strong.

Two close range second half finishes came after a Zlatan Ibrahimovic-esque flicked volley to claim the match ball for himself here.

In doing so, he took the mantle from Lionel Messi as being the youngest player ever to score a hat-trick for Pep Guardiola, having only recently turned 21.

The ex-Valencia man also became the eighth Spaniard to do so in the Premier League and the third youngest man ever to claim a treble for City after Mario Balotelli and Raheem Sterling.

In a false nine role, he’s given Pep food for thought.

Manager of the month

It was largely Newcastle fans who seemed to scoff at Steve Bruce scooping April’s award for the Premier League’s top manager.

After all, they had remained largely stationary in their position but this was a performance that, despite the defeat, they can take encouragement from.

Defensively, they were too sloppy at times but were direct and dangerous in their forays forward, with Joe Willock and Miguel Almirón particularly impressing in driving into space.

Ultimately, scoring three times against the champions and losing sums up their season.

If nothing else though, it underlined the importance of Willock again and how aggressively they must pursue a permanent deal for him.

Carson watch

The big talking point prior to this one was the shock City debut for veteran goalkeeper Scott Carson, a full 3,645 days after his last Premier League appearance.

That was the longest gap between games for a goalkeeper in the league and as a result, many eyes were on him.

Although he conceded three, it’s hard to find too much fault with him, considering his lack of match practice.

Emil Krafth’s header would have likely beaten Ederson too, while Joelinton’s penalty was impossible to stop and then he got his moment in the second half by saving Joe Willock’s 12-yard attempt.

Although the midfielder scored the rebound, that penalty stop combined with three points means it has to go down as a successful return for the 35-year-old!