Nottingham Forest defender Felipe says he relished his battle with Manchester City hot-shot Erling Haaland at the City Ground on Saturday.
It was the Reds’ deadline day signing who came out on top of that particular tussle, putting in a superb performance on his full debut and keeping tabs on his opponent. Haaland was unable to add to his tally of 26 Premier League goals, missing a couple of good chances in the second half of the 1-1 draw.
Felipe was well aware of the challenge he would be up against in the Norwegian. But he had a plan for how to get a grip on him.
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"Everyone already knows very well how Haaland plays, his style of play,” the former Atletico Madrid centre-back told ESPN in a translated interview. “He is a physically very strong guy, and he has the intelligence to seek out these spaces.
"I even got to talk to Renan Lodi that I wasn't able to cover him much because of that, because I'd rather be touching him, and then 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 advance, I was touching him and I bothered him a lot. It was a good duel.”
Substitute Chris Wood clinched a point for the hosts when he came off the bench and slotted in Morgan Gibbs-White’s cross five minutes from time. That cancelled out Bernardo Silva’s opener for Pep Guardiola’s side.
The game against City represented Felipe's second appearance for Forest. His first came a week earlier, when he and Joe Worrall came on after just seven minutes of the 2-0 defeat to Fulham, following injuries to Scott McKenna and Willy Boly.
Saturday's result made it eight games unbeaten at home for Forest. They are 13th in the table, five points clear of the relegation zone ahead of Saturday’s trip to face West Ham United.
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