“Can I say something?” Bernardo Silva, well-versed in doing everybody else’s job for them, interjected. “Erling was fantastic today, fighting for every ball,” he continued.
Erling Haaland had, indeed, taken the fight to the Arsenal centre-backs. It was a performance that required him to run, scrap… and wait. All of which he did — he was towered over for headers and had the shirt torn off his back, but he scored the goal that handed Manchester City a victory that could be a springboard to an improbable Premier League title.
But he did not want to talk about it too much.
“It’s always like this, a lot of fighting and these kinds of things. What can I say, it’s always nice,” he had said in his post-match interview with Sky Sports. It was not that he was not fired up — he blurted out that Bernardo had played like “Fabio f***ing Cannavaro” live on air — but he clearly did not want to dwell on his own contributions. A case of staying humble, perhaps.
Bernardo, who put in an extraordinary performance a few days after confirming this would be his final title race at City, took his opportunity to cut in, giving credit where it was due.
“It’s not easy with two centre-backs that are strong,” Bernardo continued, “and Erling was unbelievable, so thank you so much, big guy. Apart from the goal, which he always scores, he fought like an animal.”
At one point in the first half, as Haaland complained about Gabriel pulling him back, referee Anthony Taylor told him, “You’re both at it.”
Haaland regularly has to put up with a lot of rough treatment before he sees a decision go his way, but there were plenty of times when they were indeed both at it: in the seconds leading up to Haaland’s goal, they were grabbing each other’s shirts.
At one point, Haaland even slaps down the Brazilian’s hand to free himself.
As Haaland works himself into space, momentarily, he moves behind Gabriel, who seems happy with that and puts out a strong arm to try to pin the City striker…
… and then, bam! Haaland makes his dart back across, both holding a handful of each other’s shirts once more, but the striker gets across his man to score the winner.
“I think my shirt got a bit pulled!” Haaland told reporters in the mixed zone afterwards. “I didn’t get the foul; this is the Premier League nowadays. It’s wrestling here and there. A lot of duels. A lot of scratches. Sometimes my missus is not so happy about this, it looks a bit wrong! But that’s the reality.”
Pep Guardiola did not seem to be in much of a mood to talk about it, either.
“I would not like Erling Haaland to battle against William Saliba and Gabriel,” the City manager said. “I prefer to read a book. Definitely not. Dealing with those guys, how they do it, and they handle it. Really good.”
Haaland has found himself scrapping with centre-backs in aerial duels quite a lot this season, with City’s relatively laborious build-up leading to more long balls.
He has battled brutally with Brighton & Hove Albion’s Jan Paul van Hecke and Newcastle United’s Dan Burn. Against Arsenal, he sometimes even struggled to challenge Gabriel for headers because William Saliba would be blocking the way. Guardiola says these kinds of tussles are “not sustainable” physically — no wonder he would rather not see it.
And in the first minute against Arsenal, when Gianluigi Donnarumma floated a long ball up towards Haaland, Guardiola told the Italian goalkeeper he should be looking for a shorter option.
When Kai Havertz capitalised on Donnarumma’s dawdling, it looked like Guardiola’s instruction had backfired, but City’s goalkeeper did spend much of the game scouring the pitch for short passing options. On the occasions he did toss balls up to Haaland, there was often too much loft, and the striker found himself out-jumped by whichever Arsenal defender was closest.
Generally, that would be Gabriel. There was the ground grapple in the first half, when they took turns trying to keep each other on the floor as the game went on around them…
… and later on, the ripped shirt, as they both somehow managed to run full tilt while climbing all over each other, tearing at each other’s jerseys again.
The fact that Haaland was up for the battle, as Bernardo noted, is something in itself. It was only a couple of months ago that Guardiola bemoaned Haaland and Omar Marmoush’s complete lack of interest in fighting for long balls during the second half against Liverpool.
There have been times in recent months when he has been accused of not trying, and between Christmas Day and the international break that began in March, he scored three goals from open play, plus two penalties.
As far back as January, Guardiola said Haaland was “exhausted”. The 25-year-old missed City’s game at Leeds at the end of February with a minor ankle injury, but City staff felt a much-needed rest represented a sizeable silver lining, and Norway head coach Stale Solbakken afforded him “special treatment” when he was rested for the Netherlands friendly last month.
Pushed on Haaland’s role in Sunday’s victory, Guardiola focused on one thing: rest.
“He knows it, it’s not the first time that he deals with Gabriel and Saliba,” he said, after lamenting some tactical details. “But always he is spot on. We always demand from one guy, a game every three days. Game, game, game, during November, December, January, February.
“Sustaining that every three days with his body is not easy. Bernardo can do it. But him… Now he is a little bit sharper, because for the last three or four weeks, we have a long week (between matches).”
As much as they would still like to be in the Champions League, the extra time during the week — Guardiola gives his players two or three days off — has clearly been a huge benefit. After the international break, Haaland scored a fine hat-trick against Liverpool in the FA Cup, one of the wins that suggests City are coming to the boil.
“The break in the national team was good,” Haaland said. “I’m really happy the national team helped me and said, ‘You know what, relax’, after playing 50 games this season. And to get ready for the most important two months of your career with the World Cup as well. I’m happy they let me relax and fix my body a little bit and then come back to attack.”
In his television interview, he refused to say whether he won the battle with Gabriel, but it is evident that he came out on top.
Not just for the goal that he scored, but for the fact that Gabriel should have seen red for thrusting his forehead into the Norwegian.
Erling Haaland and Gabriel square off in the second half (Alex Livesey – Danehouse/Getty Images)
The Brazilian would have felt that he had the measure of Haaland for the most part — not for the first time — but by being beaten for such a weighty goal, one that could ruin Arsenal’s season, he lost his head as soon as City and Haaland got their noses in front.
“I think that is a red card; most of you agree with me on this,” the striker said after the match. “If I go down, it’s a red card. I would never do this. My father taught me this – stay on your feet and don’t be a… it starts with ‘p’. That’s the reality. Maybe, yes, I should have gone down, maybe it would be easier, but I didn’t, and I got a yellow card for it.”
It was a notable gesture from a player who has previously pinged the ball off the back of the defender’s head, the single moment that added the most spice to these battles. That was the day when he told Mikel Arteta to stay humble, only to see Arsenal rub his nose in it a few months later when they beat City 5-1 in London.
This is how it is between Haaland and Arsenal’s towering centre-backs. Who will have the last laugh this time?
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