Erling Haaland faces a possible FA disrepute charge after taking to social media to criticise referee Simon Hooper following the dramatic 3-3 draw against Spurs yesterday.
The Manchester City spearhead was booked by the official for dissent on the pitch at the Etihad after he blew his top following Hooper’s failure to play advantage after a foul on him by Emerson Royal with Jack Grealish bearing down on goal in added time.
A furious Haaland was then involved in a spat with Spurs midfielder Giovani Lo Celso as he left the pitch before continuing his tirade by X by posting ‘WTF’ – an abbreviation for What The Fuck’ – alongside an image of the incident.
“His reaction was normal,” said City manager Pep Guardiola. “Even the referee, if he played for Manchester City, would be disappointed for that action.
“It is hard when you review the image. The referee decides to blow the whistle after he has already said to play on. After the pass, the whistle, so I do not understand this action. I will not do a Mikel Arteta comment.”
Asked if he thought Spurs had got away with one in the incident, manager Ange Postecoglou admitted: “I guess so, mate.” However the Spurs boss was delighted with his team’s performance.
“It’s very easy to get blown away by City, they’re such a great team, but we hung in there, made it uncomfortable for City and scored three great goals,” said Postecoglou. It was City’s third successive draw. The last time they failed to win three league games in a row was in March 2017.
“The only medicine I’ve got is persist, persist, persist and we’ll see what happens. Hopefully it doesn’t affect us mentally and we remain positive,” said Guardiola.
City, who lost the booked Rodri to suspension for the midweek trip to Aston Villa, also have a potential issue on the left side of their attack with Jeremy Doku replaced after 52 minutes with a hamstring issue and Jack Grealish banned after also picking up a booking for kicking the ball away yesterday.
- Support fearless journalism
- Read The Daily Express online, advert free
- Get super-fast page loading
Source: Read Full Article
