Erling Haaland responds to 'bench warmer' jibe made by Man City nemesis

Erling Haaland has responded to a jibe made by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez shortly after the striker signed for Manchester City.

City and Real Madrid went head-to-head in a battle to sign the 22-year-old, with months of speculation and reports suggesting that the Spanish giants were favourites to land the generational talent.

Ultimately Haaland chose City and the Blues paid his £51m release clause, but Perez did not take too kindly to being snubbed, especially given that his club also missed out on signing fellow goal-scorer Kylian Mbappe. Back in June Perez - one of the masterminds behind the breakaway European Super League project and a regular critic of City - suggested that had Haaland joined Madrid he would have sat on the bench behind French striker Karim Benzema.

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Whether that was sour grapes or a genuine observation is unclear. Either way, Haaland was likely not too bothered by it. For the latest issue of FourFourTwo magazine, Haaland gave an interview in which he said while he enjoys a laugh and a joke, he tries not to listen too much to outside noise.

"It happens in football," Haaland said of the comments made by Perez and abuse he received from Swedish defender Alexander Milosevic during a match between Norway and Sweden.

"I like to have a laugh myself, but I don’t think too much about outside talk. I can't. It means I'm not focusing and I'm not at my best. It's good to have some fun, though. Talking is fine and we're friends in the end. It's good to have a bit of that on the pitch, I enjoy it. Afterwards we're all the same, and we can be mates."

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