Wayne Rooney scored his 200th Premier League goal but Raheem
Sterling came off the bench to snatch a 1-1 draw for Manchester City
against Everton.
In a frantic contest that saw both sides
reduced to 10 men, Rooney's second goal since rejoining the Toffees
looked to have earned victory after Kyle Walker was harshly sent off at
the Etihad Stadium.
City responded in the second half and
substitute Sterling volleyed a fine 82nd-minute equaliser before
Everton's Morgan Schneiderlin also saw red.
City may feel
the result was the least they deserved after controversy erupted before
half-time when Walker was ruled to have floored Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
It
was a breathless contest, one that underlined preseason optimism at
Everton after their summer outlay -- and record signing Gylfi Sigurdsson
was held back until the second half.
The fireworks even started before the game as the players arrived onto the pitch to a flurry of pyrotechnics.
On
the night City launched their new Tunnel Club -- an exclusive new
hospitality offering in which patrons get to see players in a new glass
tunnel -- there was clearly an eagerness to open the home campaign in
style.
On this occasion they may have gone slightly
overboard, as the flares left the pitch shrouded in fog for at least the
first 20 minutes.
There initially appeared plenty of
clarity to City's thinking, however. With David Silva pulling the
strings, Pep Guardiola's men looked confident in attack and carved out a
number of openings.
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