Erling Haaland has claimed that Italy defender Gianluca Mancini repeatedly grabbed his backside during Norway's 4-1 World Cup qualifying victory at the San Siro. The Manchester City striker said the incident fired him up as he scored twice to help Norway secure their place at the 2026 World Cup.
Haaland told Norwegian broadcaster TV2: "At 1-1 he started to touch my ass, and I thought 'what are you doing?' Then I got a little fired up and said to him, 'Thank you so much for the motivation, let's f****** have it'." The confrontation saw Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, Haaland's City teammate, step in to separate the pair.
Norway completed a perfect qualifying campaign, winning all eight matches. Haaland's two goals in two minutes turned the game around after Italy had equalised. His first was a powerful strike into the roof of the net after being set up by Oscar Bobb, and his second was a close-range finish. Wolves striker Jorgen Strand Larsen added a fourth in stoppage time.
Haaland described the result as "probably the sickest result" and said: "The fact that we come here and win 4-1 is absolutely sick, and it shows that we are a bit unpredictable." Norway will head to their first World Cup since 1998, before Haaland was born.
The 24-year-old has scored 16 goals in the qualifying stage, equalling Robert Lewandowski's record. He has now scored in 11 consecutive World Cup qualifiers dating back to 2021.
