City star Haaland relishes the moment as Arsenal slide continues

There he was, Manchester City’s prizefighter waltzing around the pitch bare-chested with a huge grin on his face and those blond locks glistening in the afternoon sun.

Moments earlier, he had been singing into the camera to the tune of Flo Rida’s Good Feeling. Erling Haaland, it is fair to say, was going to enjoy the moment.

It somehow felt fitting that in the split second Haaland scored the goal that turned this title race on its head, he was being manhandled by the very player with whom he had been scrapping all game.

WrestleMania took place in the US this weekend, but Arsenal’s Gabriel had seemed hell-bent on bringing his own version to the Etihad Stadium.

The problem was Haaland never looked like being pinned, never looked like being bullied.

“Of course, I won the battle in that decisive moment – I scored the goal,” the City striker said.

There is no love lost between these two and for long periods their grappling match almost became a game within a game. “It’s always like this, a lot of fighting,” Haaland said. “What can I say?”

In truth, it was a wonder Gabriel stayed on the pitch for the full 90 minutes. He should have been booked for ripping Haaland’s base layer shortly after that winning goal, only for referee Anthony Taylor to show extraordinary leniency despite the Arsenal defender having his hands all over City’s No 9.

And even in the first half, Gabriel had almost jumped on Haaland’s back as he challenged for a header and looked for a moment like he had fleetingly pulled the striker’s ponytail as they crashed to the ground, triggering a chaotic tangle of limbs and more wrestling.

But how Gabriel escaped with a yellow card when he should have been shown red for thrusting his head towards Haaland after being shoved by the striker, and the pair squared up like a couple of stags was hard to fathom – and cuts to a wider issue.

Haaland opted to stay on his feet because he is an honest player. Had he gone down, the chances are Gabriel might have found himself in more trouble and therein lies the problem – dishonesty is encouraged because players feel they must “play up” to get the right decision.

“I think if I fell on the floor, which I will not do unless somebody really attacks me, it would maybe have been a red card,” Haaland said. “It is what it is.”

Gabriel may not have connected with Haaland’s head, but the intent and malice were there. Yet somehow that does not constitute violent conduct but Lisandro Martínez momentarily holding Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s ponytail does? It just does not seem right.

Mikel Arteta, the Arsenal manager, had opted to start without his centre-forward, which in itself said a lot about Viktor Gyokeres’s standing. But you had to wonder if City would have won this game without Haaland.

There is something about Arsenal that ignites a fire in him. It was in the 2-2 draw against Arsenal in September 2024 that he threw a ball at Gabriel and then told Arteta to “stay humble” at the final whistle and asked Myles Lewis-Skelly “who are you?”

In the return game at the Emirates Stadium five months later, City were hammered 5-1 and Lewis-Skelly mocked Haaland’s zen celebration. So Haaland is never going to be short of motivation for games like this. But boy was he up for it.

Arsenal, in truth, had been brave. For much of the first half, William Saliba had been tasked with marking Haaland one-on-one as Arsenal pressed high up the pitch. But as the game evolved, Gabriel became increasingly embroiled in those fisticuffs with Haaland, almost to the point of obsession.

It is certainly easy to understand why Pep Guardiola gets so frustrated by some of the treatment Haaland gets. He is not awarded the free-kicks other players would get, his size routinely seeming to count against him.

He would have the last laugh here, though, and even seemed to take a cheeky dig at Arteta at the end as he looked ahead to Wednesday’s game against Burnley at Turf Moor when City will move level on points with Arsenal if they win. “Every game is a final now,” he said. “The Burnley game is as important as this game. We need to focus, stay humble and concentrate on the next one.”

Telegraph, London