{"id":815866,"date":"2026-08-16T21:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T21:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/815866\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T21:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T21:00:14","slug":"calafioris-fast-start-inspires-arsenal-to-big-community-shield-win-over-manchester-city-community-shield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/815866\/","title":{"rendered":"Calafiori\u2019s fast start inspires Arsenal to big Community Shield win over Manchester City | Community Shield"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Enzo Maresca, a miserable first meaningful game in charge of Manchester City that began with Arsenal seizing the lead after 24 seconds ended with Mikel Arteta\u2019s side \u00adlifting the Community Shield<\/a>. Arsenal eviscerated City, Riccardo Calafiori\u2019s smart early opener after Myles Lewis-\u00adSkelly\u2019s brilliant pass \u00adseemingly leaving their opponents with irrecoverable damage. Kai Havertz doubled Arsenal\u2019s lead on 28 \u00adminutes and Martin \u00d8degaard in effect sealed the win three minutes into the \u00adsecond half, taking great \u00adpleasure in \u00adfooling \u00adGianluigi \u00adDonnarumma in the City goal before finishing. On this evidence, the post-Pep \u00adGuardiola era could be trickier than widely\u00a0envisaged.<\/p>\n

Christos Tzolis shone on the left, playing the whole game in Cardiff. He was involved in all three goals, assisting two. No Arsenal<\/a> player played more passes into the final third. It was Tzolis\u2019s cross to switch play to Noni Madueke, one of 10 passes before Calafiori rippled the City net. Between Lewis-Skelly rolling the ball to Martin \u00d8degaard at kick-off and Calafiori peeling off Abdukodir Khusanov to finish, City had a single touch of the ball; Elliot Anderson intercepted Calafiori\u2019s pass aimed at \u00d8degaard in the City 18-yard box. But then Madueke cushioned a header for Ben White, who tucked into midfield, and Lewis-Skelly rolled Phil Foden before releasing Calafiori goal-side of R\u00faben Dias with a sumptuous reverse ball.<\/p>\n

Just like that, Arsenal were away. Calafiori was mobbed by his teammates but wagged his finger in the direction of Lewis-Skelly, high\u00adlighting the teenager\u2019s part in the goal. Lewis-Skelly has been offered to clubs this summer but played a central role before being replaced by Mart\u00edn Zubimendi.<\/p>\n

Bruno \u00adGuimar\u00e3es, wearing the No 39 shirt, a nod to his father\u2019s taxi number in Rio de Janeiro while growing up, but this time in Arsenal red, was busy on his debut before being replaced by Declan Rice in a planned half-time departure. Tzolis, though, was the undoubted pick of the new faces on show. Anderson was unusually overwhelmed on his first appearance since the World\u00a0Cup.<\/p>\n

Arsenal were game but City seemed to treat the contest as an inconvenience. Maresca felt the \u00adreaction to Calafiori\u2019s goal was encouraging and they did carve out a couple of chances. David Raya got a strong right palm to an Erling Haaland shot from distance and then White made a magnificent block to prevent Haaland a simple finish after Antoine Semenyo\u2019s cross took a kind deflection. Gabriel Magalh\u00e3es celebrated wildly after a clean tackle on J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku. As Arsenal cavorted around the pitch presenting their latest \u00adtrophy to their supporters, squiggles of confetti in the sky, Haaland trudged down the tunnel, hands clasped behind his\u00a0back.<\/p>\n

Calafiori\u2019s early strike provided the perfect tonic for Arsenal to continue the party atmosphere that electrified their Premier League title parade across north London at the end of May. The importance of this victory will be debated, but by winning this competition, back at the \u00adPrincipality Stadium for the first time since 2006 owing to The Weeknd\u2019s gig at \u00adWembley, they put down an impressive marker as they look to build on last season\u2019s success. City, without Rodri amid doubts over his future, with Barcelona pushing to sign the midfielder, lacked any \u00adsemblance of control.<\/p>\n

Martin \u00d8degaard (left) celebrates with Kai Havertz after scoring Arsenal\u2019s third goal early in the second half. Photograph: Godfrey Pitt\/Action Plus\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

City had been lightly raced in comparison to their opponents \u2013 they played the first of their three pre-season matches this month in Hong Kong, while this represented \u00adArsenal\u2019s sixth outing since the World Cup \u2013 and how it showed. Arsenal were crisp in possession, clever in the way they pulled an ominously open City apart. Maresca\u2019s side were exposed across the pitch but Donnarumma was \u00adparticularly unconvincing in goal, at fault for Arsenal\u2019s second, making a hash of his attempt to keep out Havertz\u2019s header, and embarrassed for the third. \u00ad\u00d8degaard delighted in feinting to shoot, sending Donna\u00adrumma seesawing to his left, and then promptly firing in a simple finish. \u201cCan we play you every week?\u201d came the chant from the Arsenal support.<\/p>\n

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For Arsenal, who begin their \u00adPremier League title defence at home to Coventry in Friday\u2019s \u00adcurtain-raiser, this impressive display will only heighten hopes of another \u00adblockbuster season. They seem well-equipped to fight on several fronts, though remain in the market for a centre-back, with Jarell Quansah and Ezri Konsa of interest. For City, who host Bournemouth next Sunday, there was little to whet the appetite. Semenyo was muted. Haaland\u2019s only real sight of goal, towards the end of the first half, ended with the Norway striker sending a wayward shot wide of Raya\u2019s net after the ball bobbled.<\/p>\n

It was not supposed to be this easy for Arsenal. The previous three Community Shield matches had gone the distance, penalties \u00addeciding the \u00adwinners. That was never on the agenda this time. Instead, \u00adArsenal cruised to the biggest win in the \u00adcompetition since they beat City in 2014, when Arteta captained the side from midfield. \u201cWe want to build on what we achieved and continue to have the ambition to win major trophies,\u201d Arteta said before the game. \u201cThat starts today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Enzo Maresca, a miserable first meaningful game in charge of Manchester City that began with Arsenal seizing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-815866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}