Andre Onana’s hilarious attempt to get in Erling Haaland’s head backfired as Man City secured victory in the Community Shield.
Manchester United were facing their fierce rivals in the hope of following up their FA Cup final success from last season with another win at Wembley.
Andre Onana couldn’t help but play mind games with Erling Haaland at Wembley Credit: Getty
In an even contest, Alejandro Garnacho gave Man United the lead late in the second half, before substitute Bernardo Silva leveled it in the 89th minute.
Pep Guardiola was clearly not a happy bunny on the sidelines, and with the scores level at 1-1 after 90 minutes, the game went directly to penalties where goalkeepers are renowned for doing anything possible to distract the attacking player.
Onana certainly wasn’t any different, as he gestured to Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne for City’s first two spot kicks.
Next up was Haaland, leading Onana to pull out all the stops in order to distract him.
The Cameroonian goalkeeper could be seen standing on one side of his goal and gesturing towards the open net next to him, suggesting to Haaland that he’d let him score.
The Norwegian striker was deep in concentration at first, but soon realised what Onana was doing and smirked at him as he prepared to take his kick.
Unfortunately for Onana, the mind games didn’t quite work as Haaland took a short run-up before slotting his penalty into the side where Onana had been standing.
Haaland then turned around and grinned at the Man United goalkeeper who was clearly disappointed that his distraction efforts hadn’t paid off.
While Man United were leading the shootout at that point thanks to Bernardo Silva’s missed kick, it was Guardiola’s side who eventually won the shootout with Jadon Sancho and Jonny Evans missing from the spot.
It meant that Man City won the Community Shield with confidence now high going into the Premier League kick-off next week.
Haaland couldn’t help but smile at Onana’s efforts Credit: ITV Sport
Man United get the season underway with a clash against Fulham on Friday night, while Man City face Chelsea on Sunday.