Manchester City couldn’t play through the pain barrier. When their run of 32 unbeaten Premier League matches came to an end, they cracked. Aging, tired legs were asked to chase down – in vain – an opponent full of energy and a belief so rarely present in evidence against the serial champions. For once City came up short.

Make no mistake, Bournemouth were brilliant, their victory completely deserved, with Antoine Semenyo dazzling. He relegated Kyle Walker to the doghouse, the City captain left with blood twisted by the Ghanaian.

To be fair to Walker, he had heeded his manager’s call when his fitness was probably well below his desired level. City’s starting squad bordered on the great, but masked the depth of the casualty list. The bench even included Kevin De Bruyne, unseen since September, and Savinho, who left the field at Tottenham in tears on a stretcher midweek. Neither turned on, even when emergency beckoned.

Bournemouth were determined to catch City cold. They flew into the game, from the first whistle. Ederson had already been asked to make a spectacular double save from Semenyo and then Justin Kluivert before the scoring began when Milos Kerkez, overlapping on the left, fired past a dozing Phil Foden and laid up Semenyo. Josko Gvardiol was cleared, and the Ghanaian’s spin and shot beat Ederson hands down.

Bournemouth’s lead was dominant from those first moments and completely deserved. City’s midfield exchanges were compressed by the energy of their opponents. Apart from one outburst from Erling Haaland, City offered little. Arms folded, Guardiola fumbled his black leather brogues as he walked along the touchline. Beside him, Andoni Iraola, a coach whose upward trajectory makes him a leading contender to succeed the Catalan, kicked every ball.

Beating Guardiola represented history; Bournemouth had never beaten City in 21 previous meetings. The last time a point was collected was in 1999, in the third tier, when Joe Royle was City manager and Shaun Goater was in charge.

Could it happen? Kerkez continued his eye-catching afternoon with a last-man block as Bernardo Silva had the goal gaping. The home confidence started to flow as Bournemouth dominated the space, and there were laughs when Haaland, attempting to make his own turn and shoot, fired wide. In doing so, he appeared to roll his ankle, but saw a first half that ended with Bournemouth putting together an almost endless series of passes. Their lead could well have been bigger than one goal from an excellent 45 minutes. Few teams dominate City’s midfield in such a way.

Haaland came on for a second half start where Bournemouth departed after another fast start. Semenyo collected a long ball before Evanilson stole inside and forced another save from Ederson when Mark Travers, Bournemouth’s stand-in keeper, was yet to be called into action.

Signals began to sound of a possible revival of the city. Haaland was punished when he leapt highest for a header and Foden drove an effort wide after Matheus Nunes had beaten Adam Smith with pace and guile. Walker, who was closest to his manager and struggled badly with Semenyo, received constant, terse advice from the touchline and eventually switched to centre-back.

Emotions began to fray when Lewis Cook, Bournemouth’s all-powerful player, brought down Haaland from behind and the City striker resumed play after much delay. That Bournemouth began to cut back on the hour suggested a one-way game, after which the counter was activated in devastating fashion. Semenyo blew past Walker again to deliver Kerkez, whose low pass found Evanilson, the striker hooking the ball home.

The lead could have increased even further when Marcus Tavernier cracked the inside post. Could they hold on? Travers failed to clear Gvardiol’s header from Ilkay Gündogan’s cross, creating tension in the final ten minutes. Jérémy Doku’s dribbling was added to the mix and the Belgian forced a save from Travers before an extra six minutes were added.

Chaos duly ensued, Travers making another save from Haaland, with the ball somehow not crossing the line as the striker then hit the woodwork with his follow-up. Foden hit a shot wide, but the champions – ragged, exhausted, stunned – could give no more.