ILKAY GUNDOGAN pinched Erling Haaland’s match ball at the end of Manchester City’s derby triumph… to make sure that fellow hat-trick hero Phil Foden got his hands on it.
Haaland and Foden grabbed three goals apiece as City battered Manchester United 6-3 at the Etihad this afternoon.
Haaland, 22, proudly held the match ball at the end of the game – yet another to add to his rapidly growing collection.
The Norwegian banged in his third consecutive home hat-trick, with Gundogan clearly feeling that Foden merited the ball more after his maiden Prem treble.
While chatting to Haaland at the end, the German cheekily stole the ball from him, before throwing it at Foden.
The surprised star was taken by surprise as it hit his chest, before smiling and gratefully clutching it.
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If Haaland minded he did well not to show it, smiling as he went to clap the fans.
He then had a laugh with new pal Foden as he came to join him in thanking the supporters.
Gundogan, 31, did manage to locate another ball, which Foden then threw to Haaland.
The red-hot forward initially rolled it away – before later retrieving it.
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After the match, Foden said: “Me and Erling have built a connection now and are finding each other.
“I am pleased to be a part of this team.”
On his first Manchester derby, Haaland then beamed: “Not bad. We scored six. It’s amazing to win at home and to score six is nice.”
Foden then added: “Our determination from kick-off, we were looking right at it and we finished our chances.”
And Haaland chimed in: “You can feel it all the time, you see the passes we give each other. This is what I love about the team. We always want to go forward and attack. It’s amazing.”
On the match ball situation, Foden asked: “We got one each surely?”
And Haaland, attempting to clear it up, said: “One for the first-half and one for the second.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
