Erling Haaland announced himself to the Premier League in style as he netted twice for Manchester City on his debut against West Ham. The English champions began their title defense with a 2-0 win, thanks to the brace from the summer signing. However, Haaland missed an opportunity to complete his hat-trick after he failed to convert from an inch-perfect cross from Ilkay Gundogan.
The Norwegian did admit the same on air during his post match interview with Sky Sports. Haaland literally went-off in his first ever post match presser for City after swearing on in a live broadcast. It left the fans all around from the world in hysterics as reactions flooded in over Haaland’s interview.
Erling Haaland scores on field, then swears off-field
Erling Haaland opened the scoring for City from the spot after he was taken down in the box by Lukasz Fabianski. The 22-year-old held his nerve to score his first Premier League goal by sending the ‘keeper the wrong way. He then timed his run perfectly to meet a through ball from Kevin de Bruyne to net his second right after the hour mark.
The striker could have, and should have completed his hat-trick as he missed a flurry of chances, amongst which was Gundogan’s cross. While speaking to Sky Sports post the game, Haaland was asked about missing out on a hat-trick to which he replied: “Yeah, I could [score a hat trick]. If you saw [that cross from Gundogan], before I went off, I should have been there. So, a bit s**t but that’s how it is…”
Geoff Shreeves, who was holding the mic for Sky Sports quickly snapped back at the City man, “steady with the language”. Haaland unaware of it struggled to contain his emotions and instead swore again saying, “Oh s**t! Sorry…”
Haaland’s epic post-match interview invited an outbreak of reactions from fans on Twitter as one wrote, “Haaland already cursing in post game interviews. Incredible stuff.”
Another expressed: “Lmaoooooo Haaland cursing on TV, yes wtf.”
One fan said; “Erling Haaland is ‘s**t’ good at interviews.”
Another just asked for a petition for Erling Haaland to appear in the interviews every week: “Petition to make Haaland do post match interviews every week.”
After Shreeves and Haaland shared an awkward laugh, the interview resumed on serious note as Haaland revealed there is still more to come from him. “It was good. [It was a] good start there is nothing much to say other than that and it was 2-0,” he continued.
“Good to get some minutes in the legs early in the season and we have to keep going. As expected we saw the potential against Bayern [Munich in pre season] and it was a bit down against Liverpool. It will come with games, it should have been more today.”
The striker then talked about his father, Alf Inge Haaland who once graced the pitch for Manchester City. Following in the legacy of his dad, who was in the stands to watch him bag a brace on his debut, Erling said, “There were some good celebrations so I’m happy. It’s nice that he saw both goals as it is a big moment for me as a debutant in this competition. Also now it is almost 30 minutes since I scored the last goal so I have to keep going.”
Haaland’s next challenge against Bournemouth, will be his home debut for City as they welcome the newly promoted side. The 22-year-old will be eager to add to his tally against the Cherries.