Alfie Haaland Responds to Arsenal’s Taunts After City Heavy Defeat

Erling Haaland’s father, Alfie, didn’t hold back after Arsenal‘s dominant 5-1 victory over Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday, taking a shot at the Gunners’ antics during the match.

From the start of the game, Arsenal made their intentions clear, taunting Haaland throughout the match. After Martin Ødegaard opened the scoring within the first two minutes, Gabriel was seen yelling in Haaland’s face. Later, Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly joined the fray by mimicking Haaland’s famous meditation pose after scoring the team’s third goal.

At full-time, Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble” blared through the Emirates Stadium, a clear reference to Haaland’s previous comments telling Arsenal to “stay humble” after their last encounter in September. Arsenal then posted a picture of Lewis-Skelly celebrating with his teammates, captioned: “This team.”

Alfie Haaland, a former City player, didn’t stay quiet. He retweeted the post with a biting comment: “«This Team» that wins everything. Ehhhhh, not.”

Despite scoring City’s only goal of the game, Haaland had a challenging day as Arsenal ran riot in the final stages, with Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri adding to the scoreline. Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher was quick to praise Arsenal’s performance, noting that City could not cope with the Gunners’ intensity.

“It was a great day for Arsenal,” Carragher told Sky Sports. “We said before that they were still lacking those statement results that a title-winning team would have. But winning against Wolves with 10 men and then demolishing the champions in a game that was in the balance… Arsenal looked completely different once it went to 2-1. As soon as the game got faster, Man City couldn’t cope with it.”

Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard was thrilled with his team’s display. “It was a top game and a top performance,” he said to Sky Sports. “With the fans and the atmosphere, and the scoreline like that, it can’t be better.”

Meanwhile, John Stones, a teammate of Haaland at City, was visibly frustrated by the team’s collapse, apologizing to the fans for their performance. “It is difficult,” he told Sky Sports. “I think all of us don’t take losing well. It’s hard to put into words straight after a game like that. Pride hurts. Sorry to the fans who traveled to come and watch that.”

Stones admitted that the final 30 minutes were unacceptable: “How we played in the last 30 minutes was not acceptable. Personally and collectively, it’s not us. It’s not nice to be involved in that when you know it’s not your team in those situations. Credit to Arsenal, this is not an easy place to come to. For 65 minutes, we played some great football at times. We were in the game, and it was a swinging point. It swung the wrong way for us. I am angry, upset personally and collectively about how the game finished.”