Шилдэг тоглогчдын карьерынхаа эхэнд үзүүлсэн гайхамшигтай тоглолтууд хөгжөөн дэмжигчдийн дурсамжинд мөнхөрчээ.
Манчестер Юнайтед-ын төлөөх анхны тоглолтдоо Уэйн Рүүни Фенербахче-гийн хаалганд гурван гоол оруулж, Аваргуудын лигт дуулиан тарьсан бол Серхио Агуэро Манчестер Сити-гийн бүрэлдэхүүнд багтан талбайд гарснаасаа хойш удалгүй гоолдож, багийнхаа ирээдүйн гол найдвар болохоо харуулсан юм. Мөн Пол Мерсон Уолсолл-ын төлөөх анхны тоглолтдоо Вест Бромвич Альбион-ы эсрэг хоёр гоол оруулж, багтаа 4-1-ийн харьцаатай ялалт авчирч байв.
Эдин Жеко Манчестер Сити-д ирээд анхны тоглолтдоо оновчтой дамжуулалт өгч байсан бол Мики Куинн Ньюкасл Юнайтед-ын төлөө Лийдс Юнайтед-ыг 5-2-оор хожиход дөрвөн гоол оруулж, өөрийгөө шилдэг довтлогч гэдгээ нотолсон. Саму Саиз Лийдс Юнайтед-ын төлөөх анхны тоглолтдоо Порт Вэйл-ийн хаалганд гурван гоол оруулж, гайхалтай ур чадвараа гайхуулсан түүхтэй.
Педро Челси-гийн төлөөх Премьер лигийн анхны тоглолтдоо гоолдож, оновчтой дамжуулалт өгөн 3-2-ын ялалтад хувь нэмрээ оруулсан бол Бен Уайт Лийдс Юнайтед-ын хамгаалалтад тун найдвартай тоглолтыг үзүүлсэн. Түүнчлэн Жозе Домингес Бирмингем Сити-гийн нөөц багийн төлөөх анхны тоглолтдоо дөрвөн оновчтой дамжуулалт өгч байсан бол Кристиан Эриксен зүрхний хүндрэлийн дараа Брентфорд-ын бүрэлдэхүүнд эргэн ирж, талбайд гарсан нь хөлбөмбөгийн ертөнцийн хамгийн сэтгэл хөдөлгөм мөчүүдийн нэг байлаа. Эден Азар Челси-д ирээд Премьер лигийн анхны тоглолтдоо зургаахан минутын дотор оновчтой дамжуулалт өгч, улмаар багтаа торгуулийн цохилт авчирснаар гайхалтай эхлэлийг тавьсан билээ.
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Champions League hat-tricks, 25-yarders and nutmegs— some debuts are the stuff of dreams.
After Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ heroic added-time equaliser in his first game for Everton against Manchester United on Sunday, we asked some of our writers to tell us about their favourites.
Some of the below you will probably remember well; some others, less so. Let us know your thoughts and share your picks.
Wayne Rooney — Manchester United vs Fenerbahce; September 28, 2004
Oliver Kay
Sir Alex Ferguson urged patience with Wayne Rooney after he completed his drawn-out, acrimonious transfer from Everton to Manchester United in August 2004.
For one thing, there was a burden of expectation on an 18-year-old making a £27million move after his starring role for England in that summer’s European Championship finals. For another, he was not yet fit after suffering a fractured metatarsal in a quarter-final defeat by Portugal.
But Rooney was finally unleashed for a Champions League group game against Fenerbahce at Old Trafford, scoring a spectacular hat-trick, all three (the third an exquisite free kick) struck from outside the penalty area. Cristiano Ronaldo’s cameo for United against Bolton Wanderers a year earlier was entertaining, but Rooney’s debut was just stunning.
Afterwards, Ferguson found himself trying to play down the hype. Good luck with that.
Sergio Aguero — Manchester City vs Swansea City; August 15, 2011
Thom Harris
Manchester City fans had already been treated to some huge signings by the early 2010s, but there was a buzz of excitement — and mystery — as Sergio Aguero emerged at the Etihad Stadium for the first time.
The Argentinian would prove to be the final piece to the puzzle, scoring 23 Premier League goals in his debut season, including the last-gasp, title-snatching winner against Queens Park Rangers on its final day. Stepping off the bench with just 30 minutes to play in this Monday night opener, he provided a thrilling glimpse of things to come.
(Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
His first goal was simple enough, side-footing home at the back post after a driven Micah Richards cross. As he hooked the ball over his head for David Silva to sweep into the net three minutes later, there were early murmurs that City could have a star on their hands.
But it was Aguero’s second of the evening that still lives vividly in my memory; the thumping sound of the football as it dipped towards the far corner from 25 yards, and the sense of sheer disbelief around the stadium, imaginations running wild at what City could achieve with a player of such quality at the top of the team.
As it turned out, quite a bit.
Paul Merson — Walsall vs West Bromwich Albion; August 9, 2003
Steve Madeley
This was Walsall, who at the time had played more games than any other club in the third tier of English football. That was our place in the footballing world.
We didn’t sign players like Paul Merson. THE Paul Merson. The Arsenal legend. The England international. The Aston Villa hero. The Magic Man.
Except now, we had. Merson wanted to return closer to his family in the Midlands after a season on the south coast with Portsmouth and little Walsall, enjoying what remains their longest stint in the second tier, made it happen.
Albion, newly relegated from the Premier League and promotion favourites, were certain to come to town and win this local derby on the opening day. Except they didn’t.
It was baking hot, Merson was fired up, and within 39 minutes he had struck a wonderful volley into the top corner from outside the box and a thunderous shot into the other top corner from similar range and it was 2-0.
(David Rogers/Getty Images)
He went on to run the game. Walsall won 4-1 (Steve Corica scored a goal even better than Merson’s two). We were, quite obviously, heading for the Premier League with Merson leading the way.
Not quite. Six months later, Merson’s well-publicised personal demons returned and he went to rehab in the United States.
Two months after that, inexplicably, he was named our player-manager. We were relegated and Albion were promoted.
But Walsall fans will always have that scorching August day.
Edin Dzeko — Manchester City vs Wolverhampton Wanderers; January 15, 2011
Eduardo Tansley
My first Premier League game happened to be the one in which Edin Dzeko made his Manchester City debut. As a young and impressionable onlooker, Dzeko looked huge (at 6ft 4in/193cm) yet so graceful on the ball.
Dzeko didn’t score, but his assist in City’s 4-3 win was noteworthy. He played a one-two with strike partner Carlos Tevez before knocking it through a Wolves defender’s legs and finding Yaya Toure.
The fact that he went on to a pretty distinguished career with City (72 goals in 189 games), lots of other clubs and Bosnia & Herzegovina (playing in their first ever World Cup this summer at age 40, scoring and helping them into the knockout phase) left me happy with the coincidence that we’d shared our Premier League firsts.
Micky Quinn — Newcastle United vs Leeds United; August 19, 1989
George Caulkin
Newcastle had been relegated from the old First Division the previous season.
There were protests against the club’s board of directors and calls for a boycott. When a stocky, moustached Merseysider joined Jim Smith’s team from Portsmouth for £680,000, it was to a discordant fanfare and a banner from mutinous supporters which read, ‘Who the f*** is Mick Quinn?’
Ninety minutes into his Newcastle career, we had our answer: a f***ing No 9.
(Danny Brannigan/Hulton Archive)
Quinn was a poacher supreme who scored four times as a strong Leeds team, who would eventually go up as champions, were beaten 5-2. A few hours, and many pints later, he was weeing in a plant pot in the reception area of his hotel. By the end of the season, he had scored 34 goals.
Samu Saiz — Leeds United vs Port Vale; August 9, 2017
Amitai Winehouse
You might wonder why a man in his mid-twenties, based in London, spent his evenings doing things like streaming Leeds — then a mediocre Championship side — against fourth-tier Port Vale in the Carabao Cup’s first round at the height of summer.
It would be great to say the answer is because of moments like this, but the reason why Samu Saiz’s Leeds debut was so remarkable is that this simply did not happen. Saiz took to the pitch and looked like a Lionel Messi clone. He scored a remarkable hat-trick, one of the goals being a dribble and rounding of the ’keeper that any player, Messi included, would be proud of.
(Richard Sellers/PA Images via Getty Images)
It has to be remembered that Leeds fans had been watching Michael Tonge — who scored for Vale in this match — and Michael Brown — who was managing them — just a couple of years before. No offence to either, but Saiz seemed like he was from a different planet. For about six months, he was god-like, and then he sort of disappeared without much pomp.
Still, we’ll always have that Wednesday night.
Pedro — West Bromwich Albion vs Chelsea; August 23, 2015
Amelie Claydon
Pedro arrived at Chelsea from Barcelona aged 28, already a World Cup winner with them and a two-time European champion with Spain. His Premier League debut came away at West Brom, where he opened the scoring after 20 minutes and then supplied Diego Costa for Chelsea’s second before half-time.
Cesar Azpilicueta made it 3-1 before John Terry was sent off early in the second half and West Brom pulled another goal back before Chelsea held on to win 3-2.
(Marc Atkins/Mark Leech Sports Photography/Getty Images)
It was one of the brighter afternoons of a bleak title defence that led to Jose Mourinho’s second Chelsea departure in the December. Pedro made 40 appearances and scored eight goals in that first season as Chelsea finished 10th — but a year later, he was a Premier League champion with the west London side.
Ben White — Bristol City vs Leeds United; August 4, 2019
Beren Cross
Ben White had arrived at a second-division Leeds on loan after back-to-back season-long stints farmed out at League Two Newport County and then Peterborough United a division higher. Furthermore, manager Marcelo Bielsa consigned the 21-year-old to the under-23s when he first arrived.
So, expectations were low going into the new Championship season. Pontus Jansson, a colossus at that level, had been replaced by this tall but slight and inexperienced kid from Brighton & Hove Albion.
He turned out to be a Rolls-Royce.
White had ice in his veins that day at Ashton Gate. Playing centre-back, the now Arsenal and England right-back was unflappable wherever he received the ball, always finding the right option and executing passes with aplomb.
It was one of those games where you immediately saw that someone was playing at a level beneath them. White was two steps ahead of everyone else on the field. His intelligence and technical ability were a perfect match for Bielsa’s high-risk, high-line strategy.
He could pass in tight spots, dribble through a press and time a tackle impeccably. It set the tone for the season ahead, when he was the best player in what became Leeds’ title-winning team of 2019-20.
Jose Dominguez — Birmingham City reserves vs Swansea City (or West Bromwich Albion) reserves, early 1994
Rob Tanner
Not since Alberto Tarantini signed for Birmingham in 1978 had there been such a buzz around St Andrew’s about the impending arrival of an overseas talent.
By early 1994, Birmingham weren’t in a position to recruit a recent World Cup winner as they did with Argentina’s Tarantini, but they did bring over a diminutive winger from Portugal named Jose Dominguez.
It all seemed surreal. He was coming from Benfica, but was very young and only 5ft 5in (165cm). How was he supposed to cope with the physicality of English football?
There was so much anticipation that myself and several thousand others turned up at St Andrew’s one weekday afternoon to see him make his debut in a reserve game.
It is 32 years ago now, and I don’t remember the score. I also thought it was against Swansea, but I have since read an interview with Dominguez in which he said the opponents were West Brom, he made four assists in a 5-0 win, and there were 9,000 people there.
What I do remember is thinking, what a player! His movement, dribbling ability and raw talent definitely stuck in my memory.
Christian Eriksen — Brentford v Newcastle United; February 26, 2022
Jay Harris
Lots of people assumed Christian Eriksen’s career was over after he suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch playing for Denmark at the European Championship in summer 2021.
He was in hospital for six days and had an ICD fitted to his chest. The midfielder’s contract with Inter was mutually terminated, due to rules in Italy preventing players from competing if they have a heart device fitted.
(Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Seven months after that harrowing incident, Eriksen made an unlikely comeback for Brentford as a second-half substitute against Newcastle United. Brentford lost 2-0, and he had a limited impact on the game, but it was an inspiring story to see him back out on the pitch and being warmly applauded by everybody inside the stadium.
By the end of that 2021-22 season, Eriksen had played an integral role in Brentford avoiding relegation and banished memories of what happened on that fateful day the previous June.
Eden Hazard — Wigan Athletic vs Chelsea; August 19, 2012
Simon Johnson
There was a great deal of satisfaction at Chelsea when they beat off competition from several clubs to sign Eden Hazard from Lille in 2012.
Hazard was going to be under a lot of scrutiny at Chelsea anyway after joining for £32million, which was a lot of money at the time. But the fact that so many other high-profile teams across Europe had wanted him made a lot of people wonder if the Belgian forward would prove to be worthy of the hype.
It took just six minutes of his first outing in the Premier League to provide the answer. Yes, he had been given a run-out in the glorified friendly that is the Community Shield a week earlier — Chelsea lost 3-2 to Manchester City — but this was a real competitive test, far away from affluent west London in the north of England.
(Nigel French – PA Images via Getty Images)
It took under two minutes for Hazard to provide his first assist. A lovely touch and spin past his marker (Ivan Ramis), something the Chelsea faithful would get used to over the next seven years, was followed by a delightful through ball for Branislav Ivanovic to score.
The unfortunate Ramis, who was making the kind of debut you want to forget, was flummoxed by Hazard again just four minutes later, when he dribbled into the area and the Spaniard brought him down. The foul allowed Frank Lampard to score from the spot and Chelsea cruised to a 2-0 win, with Hazard showing more of his party tricks before being substituted in the second half. It was just the start of something special.
