Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has been described as “lucky” by a former referee after not being sent off against Everton.
The Blues were in action against Man City in the Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium on New Year’s Eve. Frank Lampard’s side went 1-0 down thanks to an opener from Haaland, and then into the half-time break a goal behind.
Haaland went down injured in the early minutes of the match after an aerial challenge with Ben Godfrey. Later in the game, the Norway striker was shown a yellow card for a tackle on Vitalii Mykolenko.
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The challenge was sent to VAR for a check, and the decision was taken that no clear and obvious error was made in the awarding of a mere caution. This caused controversy, and Haaland has been described as “lucky” but former Premier League referee Peter Walton.
When reflecting on the incident in real time, Walton told BT Sport: “This game has been simmering since Haaland got injured and since then Andy Madley has had a real hard time keeping control. It has this undercurrent.
“Haaland is going to be a very lucky man if he stays on the field because there’s a bit of frustration and he’s gone at speed, with force, probably hasn’t caught him but this looks a poor foul.”
Minutes later, after Haaland had been shown a yellow card, Walton added: “All I said was Haaland would be a lucky man, having seen the replays it’s a yellow card but this game has an undercurrent and half-time comes at the right time for both teams.”
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