There’s not a Manchester City fan over the age of 18 who can’t remember exactly where he was when Sergio Aguero scored the goal that sealed the club’s first Premier League title in 2011… and that includes new club signing Erling Haaland.
The Norwegian remembers watching the game as a young fan with his father Alf Inge, who represented City during his own playing days, between 2000 and 2003. It was a tense afternoon at the Haaland house.
“I remember it so well,” Haaland reveals, in an exclusive interview with FourFourTwo (opens in a new tab). “Like it was yesterday. It was crazy. The day was all about winning. It was our moment, it was the day the club became champions. I remember we sat down to watch , my dad was as excited as I was but things got crazy City lose to 10-man QPR We are huge favorites and we lose Manchester United won [their game against Sunderland]. It is despair. But then, after 91 minutes I think, Dzeko scores. There is hope but there is so little time.
As all Premier League fans know, the story didn’t end there. “The winning goal was so strange,” recalls the star, who followed in his father’s footsteps by joining City from Borussia Dortmund in the summer. “Balotelli lying on the ground but sort of handing the ball to Aguero. The attacker closes his eyes and he hits him, then it’s madness. Me, my father, we are up, we run in the living room screaming. The top comes off and it wraps around the head. Special. What a moment.
If City fans weren’t excited enough to see Haaland score his own vital goals for the club in the years to come, the news that the 22-year-old has grown up as a passionate club fan does not. will only add to that excitement. He also spent his youth making sure Manchester United fans in his home country knew who the top dogs were. “There are a lot of Man United fans in Norway – I always had to try them,” he jokes.
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