Erling Haaland has long since earned the nickname Terminator. The Norwegian goal machine has been mercilessly tormenting opposition defences for years, but this Saturday at Villa Park, he came up against someone who, at least for one afternoon, proved even more lethal. Nicolas Jackson brought Manchester City to their knees with two goals to secure a huge victory for Aston Villa (2–1), while one man in the visitors' shirt, of all people, also played a decisive role in the final outcome: Gianluigi Donnarumma. And really, what is happening to the Italian goalkeeper? It is as if someone put a curse on him back in Zenica, when he lost his famous slip of paper containing information about Bosnia and Herzegovina's penalty takers during the dramatic penalty shootout between the two nations. Ever since then, he seems to have been followed by some kind of goalkeeping curse, with mistakes and poor interventions increasingly accompanying the outstanding saves that have always been part of his game. Such errors are not what you would expect from one of the best goalkeepers on the planet.Nikolas Jackson has been watching João Pedro lately because these are the type of goal Pedro scores https://t.co/OZUIrIZZF3 #AVLMCI— God's grace (@Adisa_06) October 24, 2026 It was the 60th minute, with the score at 1–1, when Nicolas Jackson produced a superb first touch in midfield, turned and played the ball out to the right before immediately sprinting towards the opposition penalty area. There, Jackson's compatriot Ibrahim Mbaye, who had only just come on, drove the attack forward, waited for the right moment and squared the ball back to his Senegalese teammate, who struck it first time from the edge of the box. The shot was powerful, but it went almost straight at Donnarumma. It was the kind of ball a goalkeeper of his calibre should have dealt with without much difficulty. Indeed, he could simply have kicked it away, but his goalkeeping instincts took over. The Italian tried to make the save with his hands, twisted awkwardly and practically pushed the ball into his own net. It was Jackson's second goal, sparking an explosion of delight at Villa Park and providing yet another unbelievable Donnarumma moment.Last summer, Aston Villa lost Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa, Ollie Watkins, Leon Bailey, Lucas Digne, Enzo Barrenechea, and Emi Martinez. As a result of that, they had a very poor start to the season; 4-0 loss, 1-0 loss, and a 0-0 draw. ZERO goal scored in their first three games of the season. Since then, they've been UNDEFEATED in their last 8 games in all comps — 7 wins, 1 draw. Now, this is what you get from a top manager. He found a way to get the best out of his team despite losing that many quality players. He's got a Chelsea reject firing upfront (Nico Jackson), and a United reject holding things down at the back (Lindelof). Look at that Villa team and give me one reason why they're so much better than us despite us having the better players? Answer is, the manager. He is a top-level tactician and coach who demands 100% hard work from his players. My point being, Man Utd owners/board have their own share of blame, but we should be getting much better results and performances with our players, and that's on the manager.— UF (@UtdFaithfuls) October 24, 2026 To understand just how costly Donnarumma's gift was for the Citizens, we need to go back to the start of the match. Aston Villa began as though they had decided to show Pep Guardiola within the opening ten minutes that he was in for a hellish afternoon. At one point, the hosts had enjoyed more than 90 per cent possession, and their early onslaught was rewarded with a goal in the sixth minute. Ruben Dias played a risky diagonal pass, Marc Guehi failed to control the ball, and John McGinn immediately pounced. Villa's captain picked out Jackson inside the penalty area, where the Senegalese forward elegantly shrugged off Elliot Anderson before beating Donnarumma with a precise finish to make it 1–0.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Manchester City did not remain on the back foot for long. As the game progressed, the Citizens increasingly took control, with Iliman Ndiaye particularly impressive. He hit the post and caused the home defence plenty of problems, while the visitors appealed for a penalty on two occasions, but to no avail. Villa, meanwhile, knew exactly what they wanted to do. They ceded possession to their opponents and waited for an opportunity to strike again on the counterattack, relying on the lively McGinn and the exceptionally mobile Jackson. The teams went into the break with the hosts holding a narrow lead, but by the 52nd minute, a man who rarely needs to be asked twice in such situations had stepped onto the stage.19:00 (2.60) Napoli (3.60) Roma (2.60)
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