Erling Haaland’s father responded to Arsenal’s social media post that appeared to take a jab at the Man City striker on Sunday evening.
Haaland and his City teammates suffered a 5-1 defeat at the Emirates, where Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly mimicked Haaland’s signature celebration after scoring—a gesture many saw as mocking the Norwegian, who had previously taunted the Arsenal youngster earlier in the season.
Following the match, Arsenal’s official X account posted a photo of Lewis-Skelly’s celebration with the caption: “This Team.” In response, Haaland’s father, Alfie—who played 38 games for City between 2000 and 2003—replied, “This Team that wins everything. Ehhhhh, not.”
His comment appeared to poke fun at Arsenal’s struggles to secure major trophies in recent years, particularly in their title battles with Man City.
Lewis-Skelly received a standing ovation as he was substituted by Arteta in the 90th minute on Sunday.
His goal, where he cut inside and struck a shot that Stefan Ortega could only push onto the post and in, gave Arsenal a 3-1 lead in their dominant 5-1 victory.
Martin Ødegaard opened the scoring early, capitalizing on a mistake by Manuel Akanji, before Haaland briefly leveled the match in the second half. However, Arsenal regained the lead just a minute later through Thomas Partey’s deflected strike, followed by Lewis-Skelly extending their advantage.
The Gunners continued to dominate, with Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri adding late goals to complete a stunning night for Mikel Arteta’s team.
Earlier this season, Lewis-Skelly and Haaland had a confrontation at the Etihad after Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with City in September. Following a heated exchange between Haaland and Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly stepped in to support his teammate, only for Haaland to dismissively wave him away.
Meanwhile, Arsenal defender Gabriel was seen laughing in Haaland’s face after his side took an early lead. As the ball hit the back of City’s net, Gabriel ran upfield to celebrate, stopping briefly to taunt the Norwegian striker.
Haaland’s goal in the defeat brought his Premier League tally to 19 for the season, leaving him two behind the league’s top scorer, Mohamed Salah.