After Man City’s dramatic draw (3-3) against Tottenham on December 4, the British press caught a situation where Erling Haaland almost got into a fight with Tottenham’s Lo Celso, while coach Pep Guardiola mocked the referee.
The incident between Haaland and Lo Celso happened after the match ended with fierce arguments on the field about referee Simon Hooper’s decision. This referee did not allow Man City to enjoy the advantage that could have scored the decisive goal in stoppage time, causing the “Blue Man” players to react and coach Pep Guardiola to also criticize.
The Norwegian striker angrily criticized the referee fiercely both during and after the match, before leaving the locker room. But when leaving the field, Haaland clashed with Tottenham’s Lo Celso. After a few tense exchanges, the Man City star wanted to attack the Argentinian player. Everything was only stopped in time when members of the Man City and Tottenham coaching staff pulled the two players away.
During the match, Haaland did not score for Man City, but contributed an assist for Grealish to increase the score to 3-2 in the 81st minute. In the extra minutes, if referee Simon Hooper had given Man City the advantage in In a situation where Haaland was fouled but was able to stand up and pass to Grealish in a favorable position to score, it is likely that “Green Man” would have won the match with a score of 4-3.
The great battle between Man City and Tottenham at Etihad Stadium was extremely exciting. Star Son Heung-min opened the score for the away team in the 6th minute, but just 3 minutes later scored an own goal to equalize for the opponent. Foden helped Man City regain the advantage when he scored to increase the score to 2-1 in the 31st minute. In the second half, Tottenham did not collapse, but everyone thought they were still attacking and equalized 2-2 in the 69th minute due to Lo Celso wrote. After coming on the field in the second half, Grealish helped Man City lead 3-2, Kulusevski was able to level the score 3-3 for Tottenham in the 90th minute.
The situation in the extra minutes where the referee did not allow Man City to enjoy an advantage also made coach Pep Guardiola unhappy. He criticized main referee Simon Hooper and fourth referee Anthony Taylor as “master commanders who know everything”.
“I will not use the comments of Mr. Mikel Arteta (Arsenal coach, who reacted vehemently to the referee in the 0-1 loss to Newcastle on November 5) to talk about the referee anymore. I cannot understand because “Why did the referee allow the advantage, but then blew a penalty? This match was very good, but there were bad decisions by the referee. I congratulate Tottenham on a great match,” coach Pep Guardiola said above. beIN Sports channel (Qatar).