Erling Haaland and Pep Guardiola incident after Man City beat Leeds with star 'inconsolable'
Manchester City secured a narrow 3-2 win over Leeds United on Saturday afternoon, with Phil Foden taking the lead for his club at the death - with Pep Guardiola spotted with Erling Haaland in the aftermath
Pep Guardiola was spotted calming a seemingly frustrated Erling Haaland in the aftermath of Manchester City's 3-2 win over Leeds United on Saturday.
It was a tough day at the office for the Norwegian, who not only failed to find the back of the net for City, but didn't have many chances to do so. And Haaland's dissatisfaction with how the game went, as well as his individual performance, seemed to be on full display after the full-time whistle.
While players were shaking hands and exchanging niceties, Haaland was spotted speaking with Guardiola on the pitch, with the striker looking past the Spanish tactician and avoiding eye contact. The head coach ultimately managed to flip Haaland's frown upside down, however, as the two were spotted smiling before camera's cut away at the end of their exchange.
Uploading the clip to social media, one X user wrote: "Pep Guardiola seems to calm down an ‘inconsolable’ Erling Haaland — at full-time!" while another added: "Why does it look like always Pep Guardiola is arguing with Haaland after games?" A third wrote: "Haaland and Pep had a lengthy post match discussion."
It comes as Haaland has failed to score for City since their clash with Liverpool on November 9. Newcastle United secured a 2-1 win over the Cityzens last weekend, with Harvey Barnes' brace counteracting Ruben Dias' second-half strike.
The club also suffered a 2-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen midweek in the Champions League. While City managed to bag all three points at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon, their clash with Leeds United was far from without any drama.
Phil Foden opened the scoring for the hosts in the opening minute of play, converting from the centre of the area after connecting with Matheus Nunes' ball from out wide.
Josko Gvardiol then doubled City's lead 25 minutes into play, poking home from a corner. While the Cityzens looked to be in complete control of the fixture headed into the half-time break, it was a polar opposite state of affairs in the second-half.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin ate into City's lead four minutes after play had resumed, before Gvardiol conceded a penalty for his side 68 minutes into the match after fouling the summer signing in his own area. While Lukas Nmecha was initially denied from the spot by Gianluigi Donnarumma, the German was quick to the rebounding ball to level matters.
What ensued was a cagey 20 or so minutes, before Foden bagged his brace, and ultimately, the game for City a minute into stoppage time. Speaking after the match, Guardiola said: "It helps a lot to win that way.
"It reminds us how difficult it can be. After two defeats, it's difficult to follow up. Sometimes being aggressive doesn't win you football matches. You just try. In football and life, you just have to try."
Foden, meanwhile, added: "It's up there as one of the wildest games. We had full control in the first half. They changed their system in the second half and we couldn't get going. It was a frustrating half. But when there was a short break the manager got us together and we adapted to their formation.
"We had a few half chances and finally I've found a bit of space and found the bottom of the net. There are still things we can improve. We're delighted with the result. The title race is never straightforward. There's always ups and downs and periods where you can't seem to get going and we've had that.
"The belief and togetherness came through at the end. Hopefully that's the case today that we can kick on from here. But you never know what to expect. I was so hungry today to play and prove to myself I could still score goals. I missed a few chances against Newcastle and wanted to put it right."
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