Haaland: Gabriel Should Have Received a Red Card

Manchester City's Erling Haaland has stated that Arsenal defender Gabriel was fortunate to avoid a red card after attempting to headbutt him during their team's 2-1 victory over the Gunners. Haaland outmuscled Gabriel to score the winning goal, and the two players later clashed, with Gabriel leaning his head into Haaland. Both players received yellow cards from referee Anthony Taylor, but Haaland thinks Gabriel would have been sent off if he had reacted differently. 'I think it's a red card,' Haaland said in a post-match interview. 'If I go down like any other player, it's a red card. It's not something I would do. My father taught me to stay on my feet.' Former referee Mike Dean agreed with Haaland, suggesting that Gabriel was lucky to escape a harsher punishment. Sky Sports' Gary Neville also commented on the incident, saying that Gabriel had been fortunate to avoid a red card. Neville recalled a similar incident from his own playing career, saying, 'I got done for this. I think it was actually Steve McManaman in the Manchester derby. You can put your head against each other. That's fine. You might get a yellow each. The minute you do that [push forward], it's usually a red.' The incident was reviewed on Ref Watch, with former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher believing that Gabriel's yellow card was the correct decision, while Jay Bothroyd thought that referee Anthony Taylor had made a mistake. Haaland's winner has brought Manchester City within three points of league leaders Arsenal, with a game in hand. Haaland admitted that he did not know if his team's success against Arsenal was psychological, but he was focused on ensuring that history repeated itself. 'I don't know, you need to ask them,' Haaland said when asked if City were in Arsenal's head. 'The last four seasons, they have come up short. For now, they are still first. They've still been the best team this season. I don't want to speak too much about them. We should just focus on ourselves. In three days, it's a new game. Go recover, eat well, relax, and focus on the next one.'