Manchester City strolled their way to the FA Cup final with a comfortable 3-0 win over Championship side Sheffield United. In doing so, the Citizens kept their treble dreams well and truly alive – having also seen Premier League title rivals Arsenal drop even more points ahead of their intense clash on Wednesday.
Erling Haaland, although, did not get on the scoresheet in the win for City. Instead, Riyad Mahrez scored a brilliant hattrick, achieving a unique feat for joining an exclusive club of players to have pulled that off in such an important FA Cup game.
Haaland, however, was still a thorn in the side of the Sheffield United defenders – who man-marked him very tightly. He basically opened up areas for the likes of Mahrez to soar onto the goal and get the job done. The Norwegian forward might not have had the best outings against Sheffield United, hardly getting to touch the ball, but did share a nice moment with an opposition player after the game.
After the game, the Manchester City forward managed to catch up with his Norwegian national side teammate Sander Berge in the Wembley tunnel. The two have been playing at the international level for quite some years now and have grown quite close to each other as a result.
Berge managed to catch up with Haaland after full-time, with the two seen chatting away like two buddies. The Sheffield United midfielder was spotted whispering something into the ears of the Norwegian forward, who just kept smiling and agreeing with him.
The two were probably speaking in their native Norwegian language, which is why it’s hard to decrypt exactly what they were talking about. After having a friendly chat together, Haaland shared a warm embrace with Berge – who showcased impressive sportsman spirit by taking the defeat relatively well and wishing Haaland the best for the end-of-season stretch.
How close are Berge and Haaland?
After their sweet little interaction in the dugout area, Haaland and Berge dispersed to get ready to leave Wembley after the tiring FA Cup semi-final. The Sheffield United midfielder took some time to speak with the media after the game, but he refused to boast about how his side was able to keep Haaland quiet in the game.
He said after the game: “Does that help when you lost 3-0? Not much. He’s scoring goals all the time and today he gave someone else that job.”
🤗 Erling Haaland shares a nice moment with Norwegian teammate Sander Berge after Man City’s semi-final win over Sheffield United. pic.twitter.com/rG5CUE17Si
— Sporting News Football Club (@sn_footballclub) April 22, 2023
Berge also got to meet with Haaland in the Wembley Stadium mixed zone, an area where reporters get to interact with players and a place for the players to get out of the stadium. The two shared a quick little hug just as Berge was speaking to the media, while Haaland opted to go straight to his team bus after the game.
The two have actually been good friends for a long time, having played for Norway for the last few years. Berge is very close to Haaland and has admitted to having been speaking with him every day and even visitng Haaland’s house quite often.
He said in an interview with SUTV: before the FA Cup semi-final clash “I speak with him every day. He’s been over to Sheffield a couple of times and I went over to see the Bayern Munich game last week and I stayed over at his house. It was incredible to watch that game. He is a fun guy to catch up with and it is even better to play against him. I have been up against him before and it has not gone so well in the Champions League so hopefully it will this time.”
Even though he might not have scored against Sheffield, the City striker is still primed to win all the possible Golden Boot awards this season. Haaland is probably keeping his best reserved for the biggest games, knowing that a lucrative treble is at the end of the tunnel for the Citizens if he can inspire them to win all their remaining matches this season.
