Manchester City fan offered rare opportunity to complete famous pre-match ritual at Etihad Stadium | OneFootball

A Manchester City supporter was offered the opportunity to be involved in the preparation of the Etihad Stadium pitch last month.

Pep Guardiola’s side have played one match at the Etihad Stadium during the 2024/25 campaign to date, and return to east Manchester next week for two crucial matches against both Brentford in the Premier League and Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League.

Manchester City beat newly-promoted Ipswich Town in the Premier League last month, as Erling Haaland scored the first of his two hat-tricks during a 4-1 comeback win over Kieran McKenna’s side.

The Sky Blues fell behind after Sammie Szmodics’ early goal, but raced into a 3-1 lead at the Etihad Stadium after three goals in three minutes, as Haaland scored a quick-fire brace and Kevin De Bruyne opened his account for the campaign.

Haaland, who has already scored seven goals for Manchester City in the league this season, has also been on the scoresheet against both Chelsea and West Ham United.

The clash against Ipswich in mid-August was Manchester City’s first home match since winning the Premier League title back in May, and one supporter was granted a rare opportunity ahead of the first match of the campaign at the Etihad.

Abdullah Bin Saleh Alnaeem detailed on social media that he had the opportunity to paint the centre-circle as part of pitch preparations for the fixture against Ipswich Town last month.

He captioned a video of the historic moment with, “what an experience with Manchester City,” as part of a post on outlet X, as he became the first person to have this opportunity.