Erling Haaland has revealed why he had to be restrained by Manchester City team-mate Gianluigi Donnarumma during Norway’s 2026 World Cup qualification clash with Italy.
Haaland was provoked by Gianluca Mancini. An explosive argument was sparked inside the Italian penalty area. Haaland, who was visibly agitated, had to be held back by club colleague Donnarumma – preventing him from confronting Mancini face-to-face.
Quizzed by Norwegian television on what happened, Haaland said: “At 1-1, he started grabbing my ass, and I thought, ‘what are you doing?’ So I fired myself up a bit and said to him, ‘thanks a lot for the motivation, let’s f*cking have it.’ Then I scored two goals, we win 4-1, so that’s great. Thanks to him!”