Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany described his side's dramatic stoppage-time victory at Bournemouth as "absolute madness'' as Pep Guardiola's side moved to the top of the Premier League for a few hours at least.
Bournemouth had never picked up a point against City in the Premier League and took the lead in stunning fashion through a spectacular Charlie Daniels strike from an angle which went in off the underside of the crossbar.
City levelled when a pass from David Silva found Gabriel Jesus in the area to poke it past Asmir Begovic before the Brazilian was involved again as he tangled with Cherries defender Nathan Ake, who was fortunate not to see red for a foul as the last defender.
Sergio Aguero went close with a free kick for the away side as Bournemouth looked to hold onto a valuable point until Raheem Sterling netted a deflected winner in the seventh minute of stoppage time, before being dismissed for a second bookable offence for joining the fans in celebration.
Kompany told Sky Sports: "It is madness. First thing I did was go to [Benjamin] Mendy and [Bernardo] Silva and said 'welcome to the Premier League.'
"It is absolute madness. Especially because I thought we played well. Just like we had against Everton, the few chances we have, we maybe don't score them. Today we deserved to win but they made it incredibly hard for us.''
On the opening goal, the Belgian added: "I watched it back at half-time and said 'if we are going to concede goals like this, then just focus on scoring' because it was just an unbelievable goal, from an angle as well that I thought was impossible.
"It goes to show that no matter how much you dominate the game, anything can happen at any time therefore I am really happy, and what a strength of character to hang in there and finish it like we did.''
Bernardo Silva made his first start for City and got a rude awakening of how difficult England's top flight is.
The Portugal international said: "It was a tough match for us. I don't think we started well in the first five, 10 minutes, then we played well.
"I can see at the beginning that all the games are [going to be] difficult, all the teams are very competitive but happily today we got the three points, that is the most important thing. Of course I have to get adapted but I'm feeling well and I am happy because we got the three points.''
Benjamin Mendy admitted it was a "crazy" introduction to life in the Premier League.
The France international was in front of the away fans when Raheem Sterling scored the 97th minute winner and then joined in the celebrations that saw the England international sent off shortly after.
"It was a game of football and the fans were very happy, the players too," Mendy told reporters. "I don't know why the referee got out a yellow card for this. It was very crazy and I am very happy for my first game in the Premier League.
"Today was very important for me to start with a win, and to celebrate the goal with the supporters was amazing. I am good with the players too but at City it is a family. It was a very quick game and for me as my first there was a good feeling with the ball, the players and the pitch. Now I want more because it was very very nice."
Manager Pep Guardiola said he was delighted with Mendy's performance and says he gave him his chance because Kyle Walker was ruled out following his sending off against Everton on Monday night.
"We are so so happy and grateful for what he has done because he just trained for one week with us," Guardiola told a news conference. "But because Kyle Walker could not play because he was sent for one yellow card that did not exist he has to play 90 minutes.
"He has to improve, to know each other but he's going to help us a lot."