ERLING HAALAND has praised Paris Saint-Germain players for raising awareness of the benefits of meditation after they mocked his celebration.
The Borussia Dortmund goal machine’s trademark Lotus position was deployed by his rivals after PSG won their Champions League encounter.
Haaland has made the Zen celebration his ownCredit: Getty Images – Getty
PSG lined up to mimic the pose after their last-16 victory
It is thought the Ligue 1 champions were irked by Haaland declaring in a social media post that Paris was “my city, not yours” ahead of the game – although the image circulated has now been widely debunked as a fake.
Nonetheless, the Norwegian striker remarked to ESPN that he was “thankful” for their reaction.
He stated: “I think they helped me a lot to get meditation out in the world and to show the whole world that meditation is an important thing so I’m thankful that they helped me with that.”
After PSG took a photo of the entire squad striking the Zen pose, Neymar mocked Haaland on social media having also mimicked his celebration after scoring past Borussia.
Les Parisiens defender Presnel Kimpembe admitted the side went into the game with a “little rage” following Dortmund’s celebrations at winning the first leg 2-1 in Germany, a lead they squandered at Parc des Princes.
Haaland, 19, failed to register in the away leg having shot to notoriety with a mega scoring run for RB Salzburg – earning the move to Borussia in January.
And his stock has only risen with the Bundesliga club, netting 12 goals in 11 games to give fans plenty of sights of his meditation pose.
In explaining why he chose the celebration, the forward told Esporte Interativo: “I really enjoy meditation. It makes feel calm and gives me tranquillity. This is why I sometimes celebrate like that when I score.”
Neymar copies Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haaland’s celebration after opening scoring for PSG
One of football’s most famous celebration is Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘Siu’ and Haaland added that the Juventus forward, along with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, are his inspirations.
The teenager said: “You could just see it in Ronaldo’s face that ‘today I’m the man’ and ‘today, I will score goals’ and that’s what he did.
“That’s what I like the best, how dedicated and hungry they are to succeed and to be the man in the moment.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
