Erling Haaland witnessed his four-match goal streak come to a halt in Manchester City’s frustrating 0-0 draw against Inter Milan in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League opener.
Haaland was understandably annoyed after the game, having scored nine goals in four Premier League matches before this. But the Nerazzurri backline did its job admirably, not allowing the Cityzens any freedom in their own yard and keeping the Norwegian forward at bay.
The Manchester City forward was visibly flustered after the game and got into a bit of a hilarious interaction with Inter centre-back Francesco Acerbi.
The Italian defender was tasked to man-mark the Norwegian star and did his job pretty well, albeit with the use of some dirty tricks that involved the occasional shirt-pulling and a stringent man-mark of the opposition no.9.
After the final whistle, Haaland was able to detect Acerbi coming up to him for a high five and decided to give him a piece of his mind in a light-hearted manner.
The duo shared a handshake before the Manchester City forward became very emotional, starting to tug at his own shirt furiously.
A lot of fans had a field day coming up with imaginative exchanges of what was said between the two. Some claimed that Acerbi told Haaland that he had pocketed (neutralized the threat) the winger twice after keeping him quiet in the 2023 Champions League final.
Others claimed that Acerbi might’ve told Haaland that he stopped him from scoring goals in two consecutive European games, sparking the ‘fuck off’ reaction from the forward.
Some fans also speculated that Acerbi told Haaland that he already has two of his shirts and does not want another one after this eventful draw. The reality, however, was something totally different.
Anyone who watches the video a bit more carefully and knows how to lip-read can realize that Haaland was annoyed with just how many times he had his shirt pulled by Acerbi during the match.
The Norwegian forward can be seen mouthing the words like ‘Do you want my jersey? You were pulling it all game,’ to convey his frustration over how the Italian defender used some dirty tricks to stop him.
Acerbi’s words cannot be deciphered because his back is turned from the camera, but the general feeling from his hand movement indicates that he told Haaland he only pulled his shirt back two times, to which the Manchester City striker told him to ‘fuck off’.
The Inter Milan defender definitely saw the funny side to this interaction and posted pictures of him and Haaland on his Instagram account with the caption: “I asked Haaland for his shirt, but he didn’t give it to me. Just joking!”
Despite the feistiness in their duels during the Champions League opener, it’s clear that Haaland and Acerbi hold no grudge against each other after the match.
They were quite open and jovial about the encounter in the interaction, even though the result leaves a bitter taste in Haaland’s mouth and has him craving to get back to scoring ways against Arsenal in the upcoming Premier League clash.
