One moment in time: Sven’s first match | OneFootball

Ahead of our Premier League trip to West Ham United, we remember our former manager Sven-Goran Eriksson and his first game in charge – a 2-0 victory in London.

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The Swede sadly passed away just over a year ago and the football world was united in paying tribute to a great.

Among them were many City stars who enjoyed his one rollercoaster season in Manchester between 2007/08.

It began on a sunny day at West Ham back in August 2007 when Sven and an exciting gang of summer signings brought a huge amount of anticipation.

City fans, as ever, travelled down to the Hammers’ former home at Upton Park, in huge numbers to get a glimpse of our new arrivals.

There was the thrill of Brazilian new boys Elano and Geovanni bringing their unique samba skills, the glamour of young Italian hotshot Rolando Bianchi, Croatian steel in defender Vedran Corluka, Bulgarian fizz in lightning winger Martin Petrov and the hugely-promising Valeri Bojinov and the Spanish guile of full-back Javier Garrido.

Add with the blossoming talents coming through the Academy with Kasper Schmeichel, Micah Richards, Michael Johnson, Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha all featuring, there was a huge amount of promise.

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With the experience of Richard Dunne and Dietmar Hamann under the guidance of Eriksson, there was a nice balance to the squad.

It took just 18 minutes for some of the new players to make their mark. Elano picked up a loose ball and drove at the West Ham defence before firing a shot across the box. The ball was heading wide until Bianchi pounced at the back post to steer it into the net.

The Hammers tried to find a way back but an extremely youthful looking Schmeichel and his defence were unbreachable.

Then Onuoha set off on an astonishing run from full-back. Sprinting down the right wing and holding off three defenders, he cut back brilliantly, tricked his way past two more challenges to tee up Geovanni to smash home a second.

The new players headed to celebrate with the sun-soaked supporters while Eriksson allowed himself a little smile as he watched on.

A special day and a special man who is warmly remembered for his one campaign with the Blues.

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