Erling Haaland has paid tribute to Manchester City fans for the raucous atmosphere inside the Etihad Stadium after his 95th-minute match-winning penalty against Fulham.
When Pep Guardiola named the striker on the bench, very few City fans would have thought they'd genuinely need Haaland to come on and win the game for them. Julian Alvarez seemed to confirm just that after his superb strike into the roof of net in the 16th minute, but things quickly went downhill for the Blues.
Joao Cancelo was shown a straight red card by referee Darren England after he was deemed to have illegally muscled Fulham's Harry Wilson off the ball inside the penalty area. Former Manchester United player Andreas Pereira proceeded to send Ederson the wrong way from the spot, as he made it 1-1 just before the half-hour mark.
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Alvarez and Jack Grealish were replaced by Haaland and Phil Foden in the 64th minute, and it didn't take long for the prolific striker to make his mark. The 22-year-old headed home a Kevin De Bruyne cross with just 15 minutes to go, only for VAR to rule the goal out for offside.
City were then handed a lifeline, as De Bruyne was tripped by Antonee Robinson inside the area. Haaland, who admitted after the match just how nervous he was, slotted the ball past former Arsenal shot-stopper Bernd Leno, sending his side ahead of the Gunners in the league table.
After scoring his 18th league goal of the season, Haaland took to social media to pay homage to the atmosphere inside the Etihad Stadium. Alongside a picture of his Sergio Aguero-inspired celebration, he wrote: "Goosebumps. Etihad! #mancity."
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