Erling Haaland scored the winning goal in a controversial Manchester derby at Old Trafford on Sunday and later apologised after his celebratory selfie gatecrashed a live Premier League broadcast.
The Manchester City striker was quiet for much of the match before ghosting in behind the Manchester United defence to net what proved to be the decisive goal.
VAR controversy over winning goal
The goal was not without controversy. Pro Ref has since said there was an error and the Haaland goal should have been ruled out for an offside involving Enzo Fernandez. As was the case with Bruno Fernandes' equally controversial strike in the 2023 Manchester derby, the goal stood and City won the match.
Unsurprisingly, Haaland was basking in the glory post-match and even took to the Old Trafford pitch for a celebratory selfie. The only issue was the photo, which has since been liked over 2.8 million times on Instagram, was taken in the background of a live Premier League broadcast.
Haaland apologises for gatecrashing broadcast
Owen Hargreaves, formerly of both City and United, was being interviewed about his thoughts on the match for Premier League Productions by Ian Irving, while Haaland could be seen in the background taking the picture. This was picked up by the official Premier League account, which posted images of Haaland gatecrashing the broadcast.
Haaland himself replied to this, commenting: "Sorry," with a laughing emoji on the Premier League's post. That comment alone garnered over 54,000 likes.
Overall, as well as his exploits on the pitch, it was a day of going viral for Haaland, with the Norway international sharing a post-match snap with professional strongman and actor Thor Bjornsson in the Old Trafford tunnel. Bjornsson shared the picture to X, with the post having been viewed over 3.7 million times and over 110,000 likes.
Haaland reacts to derby win
On the derby win, Haaland told the official City channel: "How I'm feeling is exactly how you think I'm feeling! I'm feeling amazing. Wow.
"The effort we made today, the amount of duels we won. A bit of a different approach to the game when we got the red card. You have to kind of stick more together and take the chances you get them.
"We had to adapt. I'm so proud in the end that we managed to win and the personality we showed when we got the red card to just keep the ball is amazing."
It's on to the Carabao Cup for City this week, with Norwich City the visitors to the Etihad Stadium. After that, the Blues will play Sunderland at home in their final match before the extended international break.
