Manchester City talisman Erling Haaland has no regrets after tossing the ball at the head of Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhaes when the two clubs clashed at the Etihad in September.
Haaland had given the defending Premier League champions the lead inside the opening ten minutes before Riccardo Calafiori swept in a spectacular equaliser. Gabriel gave the Gunners a first-half lead from a set-piece routine but the visitors went into the break with ten men following Leandro Trossard’s needless red card.
Mikel Arteta‘s side hunkered in a defensive shell for the entirety of the second half, completing just 29 passes while City rattled off 28 shots after the interval. John Stones snatched a point for the hosts with a 98th-minute equaliser, which Haaland celebrated by throwing the ball at the Arsenal defender he had been battling all game.
The Norwegian star was not punished by the on-pitch referee or video-assisted officials and didn’t receive any punishment from the Football Association. The burly striker brushed the incident aside when quizzed on the subject during the October international break. “I don’t regret much in life,” Haaland told the assembled media, as quoted by The Telegraph. “In the heat of the moment things happened in that game. What happens on the pitch, stays on the pitch. That’s how it is.”
Gabriel had a very similar take immediately after the match. “It’s normal,” the Brazilian shrugged, “they were happy after scoring in the last minute. They were playing at home, so their duty was to win the match, but our team did really well to resist.”
The combative centre-back also added: “It’s a battle, a war, so it’s normal to have provocative acts in football, it’s part of the game. Now this is over and we are waiting for them at our ground.”
Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright was not impressed with the 24-year-old forward. “The one thing that boiled me up properly was Haaland’s coward’s move,” Wright told his two million Instagram followers. “Throwing the ball at Gabi’s head when he’s not looking. When Gabi’s back’s turned to him. Real coward’s move. Gabi would look him in the eye, you know.”
Haaland’s antagonistic antics were not contained by the final whistle. City’s number nine was spotted telling Arteta to “stay humble” and bickering with Gabriel Jesus, his predecessor at the Etihad, in the centre circle after the contest’s conclusion.
