Erling Haaland aimed a dig at Italy’s Gianluca Mancini after Norway’s 4-1 victory over Italy in World Cup qualifying on Sunday evening, which condemned the Azzurri to the play-offs, and saw the Røde qualify directly for the final tournament.
Though Italy took a first-half lead through Pio Esposito, they went on to concede four times after the hour mark, which included two goals in two minutes from Manchester City ace Haaland.
The Norwegian, who now has 16 goals in his last eight matches for his country, took a slight jab at Italy defender Mancini during his post-match media duties.
Mancini was often tasked with man-marking the Manchester City striker, and the two could be seen arguing at various stages of the game.
Speaking after full-time, Haaland claimed that Mancini was touching his backside at various stages of the game, but went on to thank the Roma centre-back for the ‘motivation’ that allowed him to score twice in two minutes.
“Mancini was always marking me, he was touching my butt a lot,” Haaland told local broadcasters in Norway (reported via La Gazzetta dello Sport)
“At one point, I got tired and yelled at him: ‘Oh, what are you doing?’, but then I said ‘Thank you so much for the motivation, let’s f****ng have it’. Then I scored two more.”
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