Premier League champions Arsenal laid down a marker ahead of the new season by dominating Manchester City and lifting the Community Shield with a 3-0 win in Cardiff on Sunday.
Fresh from sealing a first English top-flight crown in 22 years, Mikel Arteta's side were on top from start to finish at the Principality Stadium.
It was FA Cup holders Manchester City's first major game without Pep Guardiola in the dugout, and his successor, Enzo Maresca, had a day to forget.
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard told TNT Sports: "We played some brilliant football. Great performance and a great way to start the season.
“I always want to help the team as much possible with goals and assists. I want to score more goals.
“We showed our level today. We showed we're ready. We're serious and we want to do it again. We want to attack it. We want to do it again. When you get a taste of how nice it is you want to do it again. We want to win everything.”
Arsenal hit the front after just 24 seconds and never looked back. Riccardo Calafiori provided the cool finish, but the opening goal was created by a sublime piece of skill from Myles Lewis-Skelly, who let the ball run across his body to create the perfect angle for a defence-splitting pass.
Everything was flowing down Arsenal's left side, and Greek winger Christos Tzolis, a new signing from Club Brugge, enjoyed an impressive debut and provided assists for the next two goals.
First, he headed Odegaard's deep ball back across goal for Kai Havertz to convert from close range and make it 2-0 on 28 minutes. And then, within minutes of the second half getting under way, he found Odegaard arriving late into the box and the Norway captain dropped a shoulder and put goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma on his backside before tapping home an impudent finish.
In between those strikes, City had a couple of dangerous moments through Erling Haaland and Phil Foden, but they were decidedly second best on the day.
There was even the curious sight of Jack Grealish entering the action in the second half, having spent last season on loan at Everton after being jettisoned by Guardiola.
Neither Grealish nor any of his teammates could make much of a dent in a well-organised Arsenal side that cruised through the second half and claimed the first silverware of the new season.
Manchester City defender Ruben Dias told TNT Sports: "Well, obviously not good enough. First of all, thank you to the fans that came. Obviously a long distance. Thank you to all of them for coming so far. It is the beginning of the season, it is not good enough. In the end, this is just the start, and the most important thing is we're already looking forward and we will be ready for our next game.
"I joined midway [in pre-season]. This is the third game since I have been back. The feeling has been good. Today is frustrating, and it is a final that we all wanted to win. If there is a lesson to be learnt in the final, let it be this one, as there's a lot more coming. It is a positive energy.
"The feeling of a lot of work to put into. It's part of any transition for things to be not so perfect in the beginning. You need to push through, you need to communicate, and make things work between us. I feel we're in a very good way, but we need to keep on working. There's going to be lots of challenges along the way."
