FINA president announces extra sanctions for Manchester City star for violent behavior against Mikel Arteta – congrats, Arsenal supporters!
Mark Halsey is shocked that Erling Haaland has escaped government penalty retroactively in the wake of the violent altercation between Manchester City and Arsenal.
The Premier League champions, who led 2-1 at halftime but were down a man following Leandro Trossard’s dismissal, spent the whole second half trying to pull even with their championship rivals.
Tensions were high on the pitch and at the touchline when John Stones eventually scored at the death to save a draw for City, and Haaland was there in the middle of the action.
After City’s late equalizer, the Norwegian striker—who had previously scored his 100th goal for the team—was spotted flinging the ball at Gabriel’s head. He then got involved in fights both before and after the final whistle.
Even though it has subsequently been revealed that The Football Association would not punish Haaland for his actions, veteran Premier League referee Halsey believes that if Haaland had received a punishment, City’s lucky striker would not have had any complaints.
“It appears as though he is hurling something towards someone’s head, therefore one could argue that this is violent behavior. Halsey told The Sun, “It feels like he’s hitting someone in the head.
“Given the possibility that it was violent behavior, it will be interesting to see if the FA takes retrospective action over that incident.”
Video of Haaland taunting Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta during the game after he clashed with Gabriel was made public on Monday. On the field, he urged the Spaniard to “stay humble, stay humble,” but Gabriel Jesus addressed him first.
Haaland became enraged with the former City player as well, saying, “Talking about what I wasn’t talking about f***ing clown.” Then, it seemed as though he was pushing Jesus away a little before saying, “What are you talking about? Leave this f***ing clown alone.
Following the Gabriel incident, Alan Shearer spoke up for Haaland, calling his conduct “harmless”. He stated, “I don’t think there was any harm in it,” to Match of the Day 2. The referee found the game extremely challenging, but the violence and one-on-one fights made it an interesting watch.
