Manchester City didn't have their full complement out to warm up. They'd been out for a few minutes, pinging balls about between themselves, yet one was missing. Left behind in the dressing room.
Fashionably late, Ilkay Gundogan eventually trotted out. Everybody fixed on him, players and supporters. Those inside reacted in a more circumspect way to when Pep Guardiola later introduced him for a second debut in a place he calls home but it still felt like a moment.
Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker, John Stones and a couple of others noticed that Gundogan appeared somewhat sheepish by this reception and mocked his embarrassment. The late arrival, with all eyes on him, must have been accidental and not in keeping with Gundogan's personality.
Gundogan thought his final three matches under Guardiola were ones ending with him, as captain, lifting trophies – the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League – to cap off the club's greatest ever season. He didn't know that his next involvement with City would be them holding him aloft in celebration of a returning hero.
Erling Haaland had himself a hat-trick but being honest, the day was about somebody else. Gundogan's introduction as a 71st-minute substitute prompted more noise than any goals and the eventual result. 'Gundo's coming home,' they sang and the week has given City fans a little lift.
Erling Haaland netted a hat-trick as Manchester City survived an early scar to beat Ipswich
Former City captain Ilkay Gundogan was the main attraction, coming off the bench to return
Kevin De Bruyne (centre) also netted on what was a successful afternoon for the hosts at the Etihad in Manchester
But that took a hit seven minutes in. A major hit. Ipswich Town, brave off the ball like last week against Liverpool, rapidly countered straight through Guardiola's midfield. Omari Hutchinson broke at pace, Ben Johnson picked when to set Sammie Szmodics free and he silenced what had seemed a carnival by squeezing past Ederson. A perfect example of what Ipswich will offer.
MATCH FACTS
Man City (4-3-3): Ederson, Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol, Kovacic (Stones 50), Silva, De Bruyne (Nunes 90), Savinho (Grealish 71), Haaland (McAtee 90), Doku (Gundogan 71).
Subs not used: Ortega, Ake, Kabore, Walker
Booked: Dias, Gundogan
Goals: Haaland 12, 16, 88, De Bruyne 14
Manager: Pep Guardiola
Ipswich (3-4-3): Muric, Tuanzebe (Edmundson 89), Woolfenden, Greaves, Johnson, Luongo (Taylor 72), Morsy, Szmodics (Harness 72), Hutchinson (Chaplin 89), Delap (Al-Hamadi 83)
Subs not used: Walton, Townsend, Burgess, Cajuste
Booked: Szmodics, Morsy, Al-Hamadi
Goal: Szmodics 7
Manager: Kieran McKenna
Referee: Sam Allison
Poked and provoked, City set about effectively finishing what might have resembled a contest in 193 first-half seconds. Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Haaland again. Bish, bash, bosh. That is what they do and that is what they'll do to better defences than Ipswich before May's out.
Kieran McKenna was agitated though, and with good reason, because all three of these were eminently avoidable. Aro Muric – a superb goalkeeper signed from Burnley, with the statistics to prove it – was culpable for two of them on his debut back at the club who nurtured him.
City were already level by the time Muric, 25, gathered a ball on the edge of his box and dithered. Savinho did not, unsettling the Kosovan and the loose ball popped off to De Bruyne. With his left foot, he swept up the extras on 14 minutes.
Shell-shocked, both Ipswich and Muric were their own undoing seconds later. De Bruyne's lofted pass had shape, although dissected defenders to easy and Haaland was galloping in a way only Haaland can. So too was Muric – foolishly, in hindsight – and the striker took two touches: one to nod past the rushing keeper and another to calmly side foot into an unguarded net.
The equaliser, on 12 minutes, was the fault of Leif Davis, who dove into Savinho as he flew towards the byline in a situation that only semi-threatened the visitors. Sam Allison, the substitute referee after Michael Salisbury went down in the warm-up, didn't give it but VAR told him otherwise. Haaland stroked in the penalty. Muric would later pull off a stunning stop from Haaland's header to underline his natural ability. The gaffes need to go if he is to progress further, though.
Ipswich were positive, unsettling the champions in moments, and Davis thought he deserved a spot kick when, after bursting beyond Rico Lewis, he found himself barged over by Savinho. Unlike earlier, there was no intervention from elsewhere. Decisions like that need to go the way of away teams here if they are to leave with anything and the general grievances of those who'd travelled from Suffolk were apparent later with loud, ironic cheers for winning a routine free kick.
That felt like Savinho's only real blemish on a day of City's now annual celebration of sister club Bahia from his homeland, Brazil. There haven't been too many Guardiola signings who take to this team and this league in quite this fashion. The way he hunted Muric down for De Bruyne's goal is with an intensity few of Guardiola's natural wingers down the years have managed. City might have had more, Lewis and De Bruyne both rattling the bar.
Gundogan's name was sang by the home fans and he was introduced to the game in the second half
Sammie Szmodics, meanwhile, scored early on for Ipswich, much to the shock of those watching on
It was Haaland, however, who had the biggest say as he netted his 10th hat-trick for City
It's 22 years since Ipswich have been up in the big league, 23 since they actually sent City tumbling out of the top flight with a win at Portman Road where one of the taunting banners read: 'You are the weakest link, goodbye.' Times change, Anne Robinson isn't the matriarch of British quizzing anymore, but City fans haven't forgotten the banner. Football's good for that gnawing bitterness and looking back on it serves as a reflection of what has actually happened at the Etihad Stadium since.
The more things change, the more they stay the same and Haaland had the chance to inflict more damage. Swivelling on the edge of the box, he located Muric's far corner. Four for him already this season.