Every Premier League fan knows how important the Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur fixtures are. What makes these two teams, and their meetups, special is the wild unpredictable nature of the matches and what to expect in terms of the result.
Nothing short of a thrilling match took place when both teams shared the points with a 3-3 draw at the end of the 2023/24 Premier League game week 14.
From the opening moments of the game, the excitement went off the roof as Heung Min Son scored a goal for Spurs and then conceded an own goal within a span of 5 minutes. This chaotic streak didn’t stop as City and Spurs went after each other for the lead as Foden and Grealish scored for City, while Lo Celso and Kulusevski scored for Spurs.
However, a rather controversial end to the match overshadowed the brilliance and thrilling performances from both teams when Simon Cooper made a controversial call that potentially took the game away from City.
🚨🚨| Hooper blows the whistle while City were on the counter, he played an advantage first.
— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) December 3, 2023
pic.twitter.com/oLeW0ZhbSi
In the final moments of the match, Erling Haaland got fouled but City played on for advantage to send Jack Grealish through on goal for a potential late winner. However, the referee Simon Cooper, initially indicated to show the play on signal but quickly reversed his decision and asked to return the ball back to the point of the foul. The reversal of the decision enraged the City players and manager, Pep Guardiola.
— Erling Haaland (@ErlingHaaland) December 3, 2023
But the one who got most upset was the Norwegian striker, Haaland who visibly was frustrated and showed his disappointment on the field. He took his frustration further by reposting a video of the controversial decision by the referee with the caption “wtf”.
It’s clear that City feels that the game was robbed from them. Grealish had no real defense in front of him, when the referee took back his decision.
Haaland is not new to being in the memes online, but last night’s match has created a new stream of meme opportunities for the fans on social media. A picture of Haaland arguing with the referee over the controversial decision has gone viral.
The face of Erling Haaland was re-edited into various other famous memes to create newer ones. these including a Tom and Jerry meme or Ned Flanders character from The Simpsons the cat lady meme.
This match alone had many new opportunities for memes with Pep Guardiola’s fall to the ground after Spurs equalized with the third goal have all gone viral. Haaland’s actions could be seen as aggressive actions towards the official and he could potentially be fined or be suspended for a couple of matches.
With City going to face Aston Villa next, the string of draws will haunt them as they are falling behind Arsenal and the points table becomes more and more complex each week with different teams replacing each other every day on the points table.