Brajan Gruda strikes late as Brighton hit back to stun Man City
Brajan Gruda rolled home a dramatic late winner as Brighton roared back to stun Manchester City with a thrilling 2-1 victory at the Amex Stadium.
Seagulls midfielder Gruda raced clear to calmly finish in the 89th minute after fellow substitute James Milner became the second-oldest scorer in Premier League history by converting a penalty against his former club.
Erling Haaland stabbed City into a first-half lead on his 100th English top-flight appearance but also failed to capitalise on a host of other openings.
Defeat for Pep Guardiola’s side was a second in succession following last weekend’s deflating 2-0 home loss to Tottenham, with Albion jubilantly celebrating a first league victory of the campaign.
Rodri made his first league start in almost a year as part of four alterations to the City team which began against Spurs, while Brighton made three changes from last Sunday’s 2-0 reverse at Everton.
Guardiola’s men had the better of a tight first-half tactical battle, with Haaland initially squandering a hat-trick of chances.
The Norway international fired tamely at Seagulls goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen inside nine minutes before dragging another opportunity wide of the right post and then seeing a close-range header pushed away.
Between the first and second of those openings, a low shot from Albion winger Kaoru Mitoma was turned behind by City keeper James Trafford.
Haaland eventually found his range 11 minutes before the break.
Erling Haaland scores goals.