Manchester City's defensive frailties came back to haunt them once again as they were beaten 2-1 at Brighton on Sunday, despite taking a first-half lead through Erling Haaland.
All appeared to be on track for Pep Guardiola's side, who had Ballon d'Or winner Rodri making his first Premier League start since last September's draw with Arsenal following his serious knee injury.
Haaland had started the campaign with a double in City's 4-0 win at Wolves and poked home his third goal in three games in the 34th minute having been put through on goal by Omar Marmoush.
The finish would have been a welcome relief for the Norwegian in his 100th Premier League appearance who had already missed a hat-trick of chances before making it fourth time lucky at the Amex Stadium.
But those misses would prove costly for City, who were beaten 2-0 at home by Tottenham Hostpur last weekend and were made to pay after the break.
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler made a game-changing quadruple change just after the hour mark that saw Brajan Gruda, James Milner, Georginio Rutter and Yasin Ayari enter the fray.
And it was veteran midfielder Milner who would be the unlikely hero as the former Manchester City man levelled the scores in the 67th minute.
Following a Matheus Nunes handball inside the box, Milner sent James Trafford the wrong way from the spot to become the Premier League's second oldest scorer – behind Teddy Sheringham – at the age of 39 years and 239 days.
And worse was to come for City with one minute to go when another substitute in Gruba showed great composure to slide home his first goal for the club since joining from Mainz last year.
“We were excellent for one hour,” said Guardiola. “After the goal we forgot to play. We were thinking of the consequences.
“I like many, many things we are doing. Like against Tottenham, we started well. I like many things the team has done here today but we were unable to win. When we conceded the goal we stopped playing.
“It's one game. The season has just started. There is a long, long season ahead of us. We will see what happens.”
Even the return of Rodri could not inspire City to victory as the Spanish midfielder's 49-game unbeaten streak came to an end – the last time had lost a Premier League he started was against Spurs in February 2023.
“I'm not Messi,” insisted the 29-year-old. “I'm not going to come back and just make the team win and win, this is a collective. When we won in the past I needed all my teammates.
“For sure I need to recover my best level and we have to look to all of ourselves, it is a collective sport. Hopefully after the break we can be much better.”
City now head into the international break after suffering back-to-back defeats – and a 2-1 loss at Brighton for the second season running.
The Seagulls secured their first league win of the season after following up their opening weekend draw with Fulham by losing 2-0 at Everton.
“Sometimes football is not too much about tactics,” said German coach Hurzeler. “It's about energy, intensity and togetherness on the pitch. The substitutes came in and made the difference.
“You always can spread energy and it gives your teammates and the whole crowd energy and that is very important in football.
“What we did after we scored the goal and the subs is that we had the belief. We weren't happy and satisfied with the 1-1, we want to go for the second and we deserved it.”
Milner – who is also the second youngest player to score in the Premier League at 16 years and 356 days – ended a six-year drought by notching against City.
“He came on and brought energy and organised it, so I am happy for him,” added Hurzeler.
“He spreads belief, that spreads to the others. There was pressure with the penalty but he has dealt with pressure in his past and has got highlights in his career. He has proved today he can help us.”
The man himself admitted after the match that he thought last season could have been his last after struggling with injury.
“It's nice to get it [the goal] in a victory. I'm delighted for the boys,” said Milner, who has made 640 Premier League appearances, winning three titles during his spells with Manchester City and Liverpool.
“In the first two games we didn't feel we got what we deserved. This win was a real squad effort. It was a great move by the manager [to make four changes at once]. The least we can do is come on and try to lift the tempo.”
