Former Atletico Madrid defender Felipe has outlined how he won his personal battle with Erling Haaland for Nottingham Forest at the weekend.
Felipe was making his home debut for Forest against City after a surprise transfer from Atletico Madrid in January and earned a Player of the Match award for keeping Haaland out as Forest secured a point. Haaland was guilty of missing a glorious chance in the second half but was otherwise kept quiet by Felipe and Forest's tactics which were aimed at stifling the space City could get in the box.
The Brazilian spoke after the game, explaining how keeping tight to Haaland was his best chance of winning that individual battle.
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“Everyone knows and already knows very well how Haaland plays, his style of play. He’s a physically very strong guy, and he has the intelligence to seek out those spaces,” Felipe told ESPN Brasil.
“I even talked to [left-back] Renan Lodi that I wasn’t able to cover him much because of that, because I’d rather be touching him, so I can take away his speed.
“So, that’s what I did the whole game: I managed to stay close to him. That’s why, when he tried to move forward, I was touching him and bothered him a lot. It was a good duel.”
Pep Guardiola defended Haaland's quiet afternoon, as well as suggesting that the striker should have had a penalty after a challenge by Joe Worrall.
“Erling is positive and he will go again next time," Guardiola said. “It’s all about preparation. He had the chances but unfortunately you can drop points.
"We are always there, we are on top. We play to create more chances and concede few and being stable as a team. Generally we are doing that, most of the time. We didn’t get what we deserved but football is not about what you deserve. You have to score the goals. Phil had to score. Haaland had to score. Ayme had to score. The shots from Kevin had to be more accurate.
"We were stable in many things. Set pieces we defended well, we attacked well. It’s about putting the ball in the net.
"The players know it. You think Phil, Ayme and Erling didn’t want to score? They wanted to score. But we didn’t do it. You ask me for an explanation for that and I don’t have it. You ask why? I don’t have it. The managers have to answer all the questions but we don’t know the truth! Sometimes it happens. But I liked the way we played, for the way we behaved."
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