Not an excellent look
Everybody desires a chunk of Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland as of late. The 20-year-old Norwegian is blossoming into one of many best attackers on the earth, with 21 Bundesliga objectives this season and one other 10 within the Champions League (plus one hilarious occasion of trash discuss). The race between the world’s greatest golf equipment to signal him this summer season has already begun in earnest, however Haaland has already put pen to paper in an surprising manner: After Tuesday’s Champions League match, one of many assistant referees, Octavian Șovre, tracked Haaland down within the tunnel and requested him to autograph his yellow card.
The commentators for BT Sport within the U.Okay. discovered the autograph request embarrassing.
“You generally is a fan, however you may’t do this in entrance of the opposite gamers, it simply doesn’t look proper,” former Manchester United and Manchester Metropolis midfielder Owen Hargreaves mentioned.
“There’s by no means a proper time for that, it simply doesn’t bode nicely for the officers. It’s a infantile factor to see,” Joleon Lescott, one other former Premier League participant, mentioned.
The optics had been particularly dangerous contemplating the historical past of this explicit officiating crew. This was the identical crew assigned to name the match between Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir during which gamers from each groups walked off the pitch after the fourth official, Sebastian Coltescu, was accused of directing a racist remark at an assistant coach for the Turkish membership. Coltescu was later suspended by UEFA.
The officiating wasn’t nice in Tuesday’s sport both. Within the thirty seventh minute, Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham appeared to have been gifted a simple aim after a misplay by Metropolis goalkeeper Ederson. However Bellingham was referred to as for a phantom foul.
That may have been a vital away aim within the first leg of the two-match tie, however as a substitute Dortmund will enter the second leg trailing 2–1 after Phil Foden’s late winner for Metropolis.
Metropolis boss Pep Guardiola didn’t have an issue with the autograph request.
“They advised me, I didn’t see it, possibly he’s a fan,” he told reporters. “Why not? The referees had been good, the sport was not an issue. Not a penalty, the VAR mentioned that.
“It occurs however they did an excellent job, that’s all. Nothing occurred.”
He’d in all probability be singing a special tune if Dortmund had received the sport.
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