Erling Haaland has been the star of the show for Manchester City. The young striker joined Pep Guardiola’s side last summer from Borussia Dortmund and quickly announced his intention to take over the Premier League. Just a few weeks ago, he became the fastest player to score 50 Premier League goals, but as you would expect, things don’t always go his way.
Erling Haaland didn’t get on the scoresheet in City’s 3-3 draw against Tottenham yesterday, with the Norwegian striker lashing out at the referee for denying them a good goalscoring opportunity very late in the game after he had initially played an advantage.
Erling Haaland furious with the ref
Manchester City have been involved in some of the most high-profile clashes in the Premier League this season, and Sunday’s clash against Tottenham proved to be another league classic, despite the apparent friendship between Pep Guardiola and Ange Postecoglou. The game ended in a 3-3 draw, giving both sides the points they deserved from the match, although Erling Haaland wouldn’t agree with that.
With the match tied at 3-3 after Dejan Kulusevski’s late header in the 90th minute, Erling Haaland tried to lead a counterattack for City, and despite being fouled by Emerson Royal inside the center circle, the striker managed to slip a pass to Jack Grealish, who looked set on a one-on-one with the opposition goalkeeper.
The referee, Simon Hooper, who had looked to play advantage to Manchester City, surprisingly blew his whistle to stop the play and award a free-kick to City. This angered many City players, who thought they had a chance to seal the win with the Grealish chance.
This protest was led by Erling Haaland, who did not just stop in the match. After being cautioned following his protest, Erling Haaland went on to post “Wtf” on his X (Twitter) account, leading to speculation that he could be charged by the FA, according to ESPN.
Pep Guardiola talks on ref’s controversial decision
While Erling Haaland is in obvious danger of being sanctioned by the FA, Guardiola claimed the striker’s reaction was normal, considering how unfair the ref’s call was.
“It’s normal. His reaction was the same for 10 players. The rules are you cannot talk with the referees or fourth officials, so we should have had 10 players sent off today. He’s a little disappointed,” the two-time treble-winning manager said.
“Even the referee—if he played for Man City today, he would be disappointed with that action, that’s for sure. I make mistakes; players make mistakes. When Erling goes down, the ref says play on, and after making the pass, he stops the game.
“I don’t want to criticize him. Sometimes on the touchline, I lose my mind, and my gestures are not proper, but we didn’t draw for that. Spurs are happy with a point; we are a little less happy,” he added.
Manchester City, who are now ready to part ways with Joao Cancelo permanently, sit third in the Premier League, one point behind Liverpool and two behind league leaders Arsenal.
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