Erling Haaland produced another standout performance for Manchester City but you wouldn’t have known about it judging by a photograph of him on Wednesday night.
Haaland scored twice for City as they drew 2-2 at Monaco in the Champions League, earning him the player of the match award as a result.
However, there was no smile from the Norwegian striker as he posed with the trophy but rather a stony-faced expression instead.
Haaland’s mood would have been a direct result of City letting their 2-1 lead slip in the 90th minute when Eric Dier converted a penalty for Monaco after he was kicked in the head by Nico Gonzalez.
The frustration of conceding a late goal, plus the fact he did not register a single touch of the ball in the opening 15 minutes, was evident in his post-match remarks.
‘Of course it doesn’t feel good, we didn’t win. We did things unnecessarily in the second half and I don’t think we played good enough, we don’t deserve to win and that’s why,’ he said.
Asked what was missing from the performance, Haaland continued: ‘Energy, we need more energy. We need to get at them more as we did in the first half.
‘We dominated much more and now in the second half, they took the advantage more and I don’t think it’s good enough.’
And when he focused on his own individual performance, the 25-year-old added: ‘I still think I’m involved in the game (despite a lack of touches), doing off ball movements and giving space to others, it’s not all about touching the ball if you are involved in the game or not.
‘I think you can be involved in the game many other ways and that’s my job. I did my job in the first half and the second half I didn’t.
‘Of course I didn’t (do my job), I didn’t score and finish the game. So no.’
Haaland isn’t the first player to appear less than pleased with winning a player-of-the-match award.
During the 2022 World Cup, Kai Havertz’s face after being given the award for his substitute cameo against Costa Rica went viral on social media.
His introduction to the match saw Germany come from 2-1 down to win 4-2 in their group-stage encounter – with the forward scoring twice off the bench.
Despite his impact, Germany didn’t qualify for the knockouts as Japan beat Spain to go through at Havertz and Co’s expense.
