Roy Keane has labelled Erling Haaland a ‘spoilt brat’ after the striker went on record claiming he ‘doesn’t care’ about the former Manchester United captain or his opinions.
Keane has been heavily critical of Haaland’s performances in recent weeks and said the forward’s general play in City’s goalless draw with Arsenal was ‘almost like a League Two player’.
And after Haaland made a return to goalscoring form in the champions’ 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest last month, the legendary ex-United skipper joked that the Norway international was back up to a ‘Championship level’.
Haaland had chosen to remain tight-lipped despite receiving a barrage of negative comments from Keane, but delivered a savage response to the outspoken Irishman after scoring four goals in City’s rampant 5-1 defeat of Wolves this weekend.
Asked what he had made of Keane’s recent criticism in a post-match interview with Viaplay, Haaland bluntly replied: ‘I don’t really care that much about that man, so that’s alright.’
Despite completing a ninth hat-trick in just 94 appearances for City, Haaland appeared visibly frustrated after being taken off by Pep Guardiola for Julian Alvarez in the 82nd minute at the Etihad.
Guardiola attempted to calm Haaland down and exchanged words with the former Borussia Dortmund star, but the forward was clearly less than impressed as he made his way to the bench – where he proceeded to throw a piece of strapping to the floor in anger.
Speaking after the game, Guardiola insisted Haaland was simply annoyed by the amount of fouls that had gone unpunished by referee Craig Pawson.
‘He went down and sometimes it was no foul given It happens every game a lot of times,’ the City head coach told reporters at his post-match presser.
‘He was just a bit frustrated for these actions but I can guarantee how happy he was today.’
While looking ahead to this afternoon’s clash at Anfield in the Sky Sports studio, Keane couldn’t resist reigniting his bitter feud with Haaland as he compared Liverpool with title rivals City.
Discussing Liverpool’s motivation levels in their final three games of the season, Keane said: ‘You’ve got to motivate yourself, have a bit of pride. You certainly don’t want to fall away and let the manager down as well. You’ve got your supporters.
‘You find different ways to motivate yourself. There’s a responsibility playing for a big club, you have to go and perform and do the business, and that’s been a disappointment for Liverpool over the last few weeks. The way they fell off, the energy levels have been down.
‘When you have the spat with your manager and obviously the star man, it doesn’t help that results aren’t going your way.
‘We saw Haaland yesterday being brought off, not too happy, behaving like a spoilt brat, but because they win the game and he scores goals it’s almost forgotten about.
‘I think because the results haven’t been going Liverpool’s way, that’s highlighted. But I fully expect Liverpool to turn up here today [against Tottenham], put in a good performance and let the manager leave in a few weeks on a high.’
Asked whether it was acceptable for a player to behave like ‘spoilt brat’ after scoring four goals in a match, Keane replied: ‘No, not really.
‘No, it’s not.’
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