Jackson’s brace for City’s first defeat
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..