Erling Haaland doesn't lose control easily, but this wasn't the case. The Norwegian ended up on the ground in a game of contrast, tried to get up, but Pablo Rosario kept holding him. At that moment, the Norwegian lost his temper, turned on the Porto player and started a physical confrontation that forced others to intervene. Referee Szymon Marciniak resolved everything with a yellow card for both, but this decision only enraged the Manchester City striker more.
Only after the match did Haaland explain why he reacted that way. And his version makes an already surreal scene even more special: "Maybe soon you'll see a picture of him grabbing me from behind. It'll be interesting to see that picture."
Why Haaland got furious with defender Rosario at the end
The incident occurred in extra time of the Porto-Manchester City match, with the English team leading 2-0 thanks to a double from the Scandinavians. The centre-forward was even looking for a third goal when Rosario stopped him with a very physical tackle and pulled him to the ground.
Haaland then joked about this: “I was hoping to score three goals, but he didn’t want that to happen.” Then came the explanation for the contact that had enraged him: according to the Norwegian, the Porto midfielder, while trying to prevent him from getting up, had grabbed him from behind.
The footage shows Rosario continuing to hold Haaland as the striker tries to break free. The two end up on the ground, and Marciniak books them both with yellow cards, while Haaland waits in disbelief for the referee's decision.
Porto-Manchester City had already exploded in the tunnel during the break
The extra time, however, was just the final scene of a match played constantly on the edge of tension. It all started in the first half, when Marc Guehi hit Gabri Veiga with his arm during an aerial duel. The Porto player was left bleeding and the Portuguese protested, demanding a harsher measure against the City defender. Marciniak let the game continue and not even VAR intervened.
At half-time, the tension continued away from the pitch. According to reports from near the pitch, players and staff from both teams clashed in the tunnel, with scuffles and moments of great tension before security intervened.
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And it is precisely this escalation that changes the way the final scene is read: Haaland-Rosario did not come out of nowhere. It was the final explosion of a match where each episode had increased the tension over the previous one. The contact in the first half, the protests, the confrontation in the tunnel and finally the physical clash in extra time build a clear sequence: in the 90th minute, Porto-City was already a match ready to explode, it just needed the final spark.
Meanwhile, City had done what Maresca really cared about: they had won. Haaland had scored twice and had decided the match. But the result had not calmed the blood, on the contrary. In extra time, Rosario sent him to the ground again and everything that had remained under the surface came out in a few seconds. And after 90 minutes of duels, protests and tensions even away from the cameras, a hand in the wrong place was enough for the Norwegian giant to finally explode.
